Rose Cottage Recipe

Method

1. Put everything for the stock in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover.
2. Bring to just under the boil, turn the heat right down and simmer very gently for 2 hours. Check the water level every so often.
3. Lift the beef out of the saucepan, put it in a bowl with a little of the stock to keep it moist, cover and put it in the fridge.
4. Strain the stock. You will probably have about 2 litres.
5. Add the barley to this and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes.
6. Trim the leek and cut into 0.5cm rounds. Add the leek, celery and carrot to the soup, and cook for another 25 minutes, with a lid on, or until the vegetables are soft and the soup has a consistency you like (add water if it ends up being too thick and adjust the seasoning after that).
7. Tear or cut the beef into small chunks, leaving the fat and bones behind. Stir the meat into the soup with the parsley and check the seasoning – this needs good seasoning as it’s starchy with barley.
8. To make the dumplings, sprinkle the milk on the breadcrumbs and leave to soak for 15 minutes.
9. Sauté the onion in the butter until soft but not coloured.
10. Put all the dumpling ingredients, apart from the flour, together in a bowl and season. Bring the mixture together and, with wet hands, form it into dumplings about the size of a walnut. Roll them very lightly in flour. Chill them for about 30 minutes.
11. Bring a pan of water to the boil and add salt. Turn the liquid down to a gentle simmer – if it’s too brisk, the dumplings will break up.
12. Drop half the dumplings into the water and poach for about 10 minutes. They should float to the top when they’re ready. Scoop out with a slotted spoon on to a double layer of kitchen paper and cook the rest of the dumplings.
13. Gently heat the soup, check the seasoning once more. Add the dumplings to the whole pot of soup or to individual servings.