Scotch Broth

This is quite a quick and easy soup to put together, providing you have cooked lamb and lamb stock on hand, but the best way to have cooked lamb and lamb stock on hand is to have had a lamb roast at a previous meal, so there's that.

 This will provide a certain amount of stock, and the meat you need too, but do make sure the butcher gives you the bones from the roast because you will need them to make additional  stock.
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Roast the bones in the oven in a shallow greased pan  until fairly brown, then cover them with water, add a bay leaf, a small onion with the skin, and a stalk of celery, and simmer for several hours. Strain and cool, and remove the excess fat.

Or; you can always use some beef stock if you have it.

Finally, if you have neither lamb roast nor stock of any description, but still hanker for Scotch Broth, get a pound of lean stewing lamb and cut it into quite small pieces. Brown it in a little fat, then put in 8 cups of water and simmer very slowly and gently for 45 minutes to an hour. Strain out the meat and set it aside to use as  your cooked lamb, and you should  have about 6 cups of broth. If you have more broth, just put it in the soup. There will be no complaints, and at any rate the barley does suck it up as it sits. If you don't add it at the start, you may want to hang onto it to thin the leftovers.

But all this mucking about with stock making and lamb cooking happens on a prior day; that should be clear. Lamb stock also tends to be pale and weak looking even when it is really quite strong; Worcestershire sauce goes with it well and as a bonus it improves the colour quite a bit.

6 servings
45 minutes prep time, not including cooking the barley
OR making the stock, for that matter

Cook the Barley:
1/2 cup pot barley
2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt

In the rice cooker, is how I do it. Fling it all in, turn on, wait. Or you can do it in a pot on the stove, over low heat once it has come to a boil, but you will need to watch it. Closely. Should cook in 45 minutes to an hour.

Make the Soup:
6 cups lamb broth, or mix of lamb & beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 large onion or medium leek
1 medium carrot
2 stalks of celery
OR 1 cup peeled, grated celeriac
1 cup peeled, grated rutabaga
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
2 tablespoons bacon fat or mild vegetable oil

2 cups diced cooked lamb
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
chopped parsley to garnish (optional)

Put the stock into a large soup pot, add, the Worcestershire sauce, and set it on the back of the stove.

Peel and chop the onion, or wash, trim and chop the leek. Peel and grate the carrot. Wash, trim and chop the celery, or peel and grate the celeriac. Peel and grate the rutabaga. Wash, trim, and shred the cabbage.

Add the cabbage to the stock, and bring it up to a simmer. Meanwhile, heat the bacon fat or oil in a large skillet, and add the onion or leek, the carrot, the celery or celeriac, and the rutabaga. Cook the vegetables over medium heat until they are quite soft and very slightly browned in spots. Add them to the stock, along with the diced cooked lamb. Add the salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve garnished with a little chopped parsley, if you can get it.

Posted in: Ontario Food