Cheat’s beef and barley soup
It started snowing last night and, by morning, we had 7 centimetres of the white stuff . The heavy snow caused burst water mains, power failure in some areas because of fallen trees, etc. Roads were blocked and traffic lights were not working in some intersections. As it snows so seldom in Vancouver, many drivers have little experience of winter driving. It is frightening to be out on the road with cars skidding and worse. We opted to stay home. But staying home doesn’t mean staying indoors. Mr. KC was outside shovelling the driveway and working up a good appetite.
So basically, this is a thinned sauce with bits of vegetables and barley. But my, the soup was delicious. The wine sauce gave the soup a rich flavour.
Ingredients:
2 cups of sauce from beef stew and any leftover meat
One cup of barley, cooked
One cup of frozen peas, carrots and corn
4 cups of soup stock or water
Method:
- Cut the meat into small pieces and put it into a pot with the sauce and the rest of the ingredients.
- Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Thin the soup, if necessary.
- Dish up and serve.
Now for the fried egg sandwich:
Bahn mi op la – Vietnamese fried egg sandwichA friend described a sandwich she ate in Vietnam which sounded like a fried egg sandwich. She raved about it so often that I decided to make it.
There is nothing to it. Here is how I interpreted bahn mi op la.
This recipe is for one large serving:
- Fry a couple of eggs. I don’t care for runny eggs so I fried both sides. But make it sunny side up if that is what you like.
- Split a piece of baguette in half. Slather with butter and fill with the fried egg.
- Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and grind some pepper over the eggs. Mr. KC sprinkled some Maggi sauce on his.
- Enjoy!
Note: I often do things backwards. After we had eaten the sandwich, I went online for information on bahn mi op la. I discovered that the sandwich is usually made with fried eggs and greens. Cilantro, cucumber and other greens are added to it. I’ll have to remember that next time. And there will be many more times. Who knew a simple fried egg sandwich could taste so good!
Also the baguette is not sliced into two but cut so that the bread opens like a clamshell. It would hold the slippery egg better than two slices of bread.