Beef Shin and Vegetable Soup

I love anything that comes in a bowl and anything that I can eat with a spoon. Out of all the cutlery, spoons are my go-to.

Soup? Spoon.

Apple crumble? Spoon.

Salad? Just cut everything up small enough, so you can eat it with a spoon.

My love of spoons probably stems from the food I was exposed to growing up. Being the daughter of a Hungarian refugee and British immigrant, this consisted of a lot of soups and stews. One of my favourites, which we new as “Grandma’s soup” was nothing more than a basic Welsh broth. To this day, those flavours still comfort my soul.

This soup has come a long way from how my grandmother used to cook it, but that’s one of my favourite things about it. It’s a recipe that once you know what works for you, you can easily add and subtract ingredients, making it easy to create with things in season or whatever you have lying around in your pantry.

My grandmother made it with plain old beef mince and split peas, but I opt for beef shines and pearl barley. She would never had dreamt of using bay leaves or red wine, but I love the rich base flavours they create.

If you give this a go, let me know what you think! And if you make any changes, I’d love to know how you made it work for you.

Beef shin and vegetable soup
Serves 6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 4 hours

1 Beef Shins (bone in, sliced)
1 Leek (or 2 onions if Leak is out of season)
2 Tablespoons of oil (I use olive or rice bran)
2 tablespoons flour
2-3 Bay leaves
½ Red wine
4 Carrots
2 Zucchini
2.5L Stock (I use beef or vegetable)
½ cup pearl barley
500gms baby spinach

Start by heating some oil on a medium heat in a large pot or casserole dish. While the oil is heating up, flour the beef shins. When the beef shins have been prepped, add them to the hot pan and season them with salt and pepper. While they are browning, start slicing the leek into thin circles. Once brown, remove the beef shines and turn the heat down, adding in the sliced leeks.

Slowly start to sweat the leeks. While they’re cooking, dice the carrots and zucchini and add to the pot. Once the leeks are translucent, turn up the heat and pour in the wine. With a spoon, scrape off any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan and toss in the bay leaves.

Return the beef shins back to the pot and add the beef stock. Turn the heat right down to a low simmer and then leave for three and a half hours before adding in the pearl barley.

Rule of thumb - if you’re leaving for more than 4 hours or using a slow cooker throughout the day, add the pearl barley half an hour before serving.

When the meat is falling off the bone and the pearl barley is cooked, turn off the heat and pour in the spinach - I leave the lid on and just let the spinach wilt in the heat. Stir the spinach through the soup with a ladle before serving.