My Monday Off.

Warm me up, it is winter!  Ok, it isn’t really, but we are having a wonderful taste of it right now.  I just want to curl up and stay warm.  Traditionally, for us, winter was full of comfort foods like soups and stews.  These were full of vegies and very healthy.   These days stews and casseroles seem to be looked down upon, which is really sad.  A few more of those and our diets would be better off.

This is a soup recipe that my mother always made.  The quantities are up to you, really, and depend on your tastes.  Mum always made a huge pot that lasted us (a family of 7) for 2-3 days.    This is my version of Mums soup.

Lamb Shank and Barley Soup

4 lamb shanks
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions chopped
3 carrots chopped
2 parsnips chopped
½ bunch celery chopped
4 handfuls pearl barley
2 bay leaves
A couple of sprigs thyme
1 tbsp vegemite

Put tablespoon oil into a large pot on high heat. Fry onions until they soften. Place trimmed lamb shanks on the top and cover with water until shanks are just covered. Bring to the boil and add your vegetables, barley and thyme. Add the vegemite, which takes the place of salt.  Put a well fitting lid on  and leave to simmer for a couple of  hours.  After it has simmered for a 2-3 hours you can take out the shanks.  The meat will flake from the bone and you can add the meat back into the soup.  If you are not a Vegemite kid, you might prefer to add salt and pepper now. 

We ate these in huge bowls with hot toast, and our night was perfect. 

The soup can be made ahead as the flavours develop over time.  It always tasted even better the day after it was made.