Anthony Rants

The day before yesterday I made a batch of Beef & Barley soup. It was something relatively new to our house and I really wouldn't have thought of making it without hearing about it from my parents (whenever they have left over roast or other beef they always mention the possibility of soup). A few weeks ago we purchased a large slab of ribeye from which I cut four or five 1-inch steaks, a couple 3/4 inch steaks, and then there was the left over scraps of meat. There was probably two or three pounds total of pretty high quality scraps, but not enough for anything but stew. So, along with the steaks, it all went into the freezer, waiting for the first cold spell.

Well, this week the weather certainly had its moments so I thought some soup might be nice. So late one evening, I trimmed the meat (my now, somewhat new Japanese knives are another post in and of themselves!) of the large fatty portions. After I trimmed and chopped the meat, I put it in a frying pan with a small amount of oil and sautéd it. While it was cooking, I salted it pretty liberally with some sea salt (nice cause it dissolves) and some pepper. After the meat was somewhat browned, I turned the heat down and got to work on some basic aromatics. In this case, a small white onion and about half of a leek. Then I took out the slow cooker and added one can of beef broth, one can of chopped tomatoes, one small can of tomato paste, the previously browned meat chunks, the onion, and the leek. Then I very finely chopped up some curly parsley and added that to the pot. Finally I covered the pot, turned it on 'low' and went to bed.

The next day I came home from work for lunch, really only to finish adding ingredients to my soup. I added four sliced potatoes, a few stalks of celery, some more onion and some more leek. Then I went back to work. When I came back around 6, I added a bit more liquid in anticipation of adding the barley. Barley is a grain, kind of like Oatmeal, and it soaks up alot of liquid. After I added a bit more broth to my soup, I added two servings worth of barley and cooked the soup for 15 more minutes. Then we finally ate it... mmm, it was a big hit with Anna. The vegetables all had perfect texture, the barley was just right and the flavor was a nice tomato-esque, vegetable flavor. We both had our fill and then froze two more meals worth, I look forward to pulling that out when it gets colder.

Do you like olives? And I don't mean those black Mission olives that come in a can. I mean, real olives. Months and months ago, one of our grocery stores here (Meijer Foods) got an Olive bar. It isn't anything too fancy, just a small selection of oil cured kalamatas, some manzanillas and picholines. A few times we've bought some of them to snack on, but recently I found out an even better purpose...Well, if you do like Olives, read on..

Do you like Bruschetta? We've consumed an impossible amount of different variations this summer, especially with the large excess of tomatoes and basil we had in our garden... Anyways, the newest variation involves an olive spread called Tapenade. I recently saw an episode of Good Eats involving Olives and one of the featured recipes was a variation of Tapenade. Apparently in the Mediterranean, Tapenade is very popular. Along with the tomato mixture, tapenade would make a simple but great appetizer. So I whipped up a batch of Tapenade and it was great. Neither Anna or I could get enough of it. So I thought maybe I should share it... (I'll have to share the short and sweet tomato mixture recipe soon)

The original recipe is here, I altered it just a little bit by omitting the anchovies and instead substituting a dash of kosher salt. The best bread I have found for bruschetta is a baguette. After you've mixxed your tapenade, and you're waiting for it to integrate (You were going to let it integrate right!? Any raw salad or spread, especially one that contains an acidic element, in my mind definitely benefits from a period of integration, so.. let it rest, go make your bread), take a baguette and slice it on a bias so that your pieces are very wide, but still very thin. Then, preheat your oven to 350 or so and lay out all of your slices of bread on a cookie sheet. Then, take some light olive oil and spread just enough to moisten the top of each slice. (Usually for the tomato bruschetta I mix a small amount of garlic salt with the oil, but in the case of tapenade, it is already quite salty enough!) After all of your bread has been oiled, place it in the oven and let it bake for a bit. The idea being that the olive oil is going to help it brown and along with the heat, its going to get very crunchy. This is really nice for spreads and such (like tapenade or tomatoes!). If you find the bread taking too long, or maybe your wife has asked one too many times how much longer it will take, you can use the broiler in the oven to get the bread done alot faster. Anyways, after all of your bread has taken on a nice golden brown color, take it out, let it cool a few minutes, and serve it along side the tapenade, allowing everyone to spread it on to their own choosing.

Anyways, hope you all have a chance to enjoy it sometime. It goes really well with a healthy glass of dark, dry red wine and a warm summer or fall afternoon.