Lamb And Barley Soup

I made this stew on Tuesday and we still have a few servings left. The recipe said it serves eight, but my guess is they meant, serves eight lumberjacks. This dish was a whole lot of food for a couple hours of cooking.

Usually, when I cook lamb I season it heavily either as a curry or with mint and cumin. Other than bay leaves and some thyme, the seasonings were pretty sparse. I had my doubts, but it turned out delicious.

I followed the recipe HERE, though I cooked simmered the neck bones first, removed the meat from bones and then de-greased the broth as much as possible before cooking the vegetables in it. It was a time consuming extra step, but it had the benefit of reducing quite a bit of fat from the stew and also making cdertain small bones didn't find their way into the bowl.

What's funny is that all these years I've saved that issue of Bon Appetite for other recipes but never noticed this one until I came across it on the web. How funny.

I realise it is called "soup" in the recipe, but make no mistake-by day two it is stew. You can thin it down if desired, but really, it is so wonderful thick with barley and cabbage I cannot imagine why you'd want to.

As it didn't contain potatoes, my guess is that it would freeze well, but that is only a guess.