To take the chill off: beef and barley stew

Leemei Tan from My Cooking Hut invited me to do a "guest post" about food and photography with a winter recipe. She has posted both today - hop over and see. What fun to be invited to participate in someone else's blog!

For the post, I developed a recipe for a hearty beef and barley stew. It took several tries to get it the way I wanted it but all of the rejects were delicious so no complaining here! I'm posting the recipe below. See Leemei's blog for the rest of the story.

Hearty winter beef and barley stew
(makes 3-4 servings)

1 – 1¼ pounds chuck roast, chopped into ~1 inch cubes
5 cups cold water
A few springs Italian flat leaf parsley plus chopped parsley to garnish
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 medium yellow onion, halved
4-5 medium carrots
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 cup frozen pearl onions
2-3 smallish waxy potatoes: blue make for a nice color contrast with the other ingredients but any waxy potato will do
2 medium Jerusalem artichokes or parsnips
¼ cup pearled barley
Vegetable oil for cooking
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Season beef generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Heat 1-2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet and brown beef on all sides.

Transfer beef to a 5-6 quart Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed sauce pan. Add water, thyme sprigs, 1-2 sprigs Italian flat leaf parsley, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, half of the yellow onion (skin on is fine) and a whole carrot (skin on is fine). Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30-40 minutes. Remove thyme, onion and carrot.

Meanwhile, cut potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes or parsnips into 3/4 inch cubes and peel and chop remaining carrots into 1 each pieces. Re-heat pan used to brown the beef (add a little additional oil if necessary) and cook cut vegetables plus whole pearl onions for several minutes until they begin to brown. Take care not to crowd the pan. If your pan is not big enough, brown in batches.

After beef mixture has cooked 30 minutes per the above, add the barley and browned vegetables plus a generous sprinkling of kosher salt and pepper. Bring temperature back up to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, partially covered for an additional 30-40 minutes. At this point,the sauce will have thickened and the beef will be fork-tender. If sauce is not thick enough for your liking, remove cover, raise temperature and cook a little longer. If too thick, add cold water in ¼ cup increments until consistency is as desired. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped flat leaf parsley.