Every year at Chanuka, I make a big pot of beef barley soup.  It is the perfect winter meal - hearty, tasty, good for you, and a perfect soup to go with potato latkes.  Here’s my family’s favorite recipe:

3 lb. beef short ribs, beef shanks, or chuck (you need both bones and meat)
2 large yellow onions, diced
8 carrots, scraped and diced
5 pieces celery, cleaned and diced

1 lb green beans, cut into bite sized pieces

28 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
1 cup pearl barley
16 oz. button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1 oz dried mushrooms, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes and chopped
salt and pepper to taste
6 qt. cold water

DIRECTIONS:

1. Broil meat until well browned on rimmed cookie sheet, put meat and juices in large 8 qt. soup pot.

2. Add all vegetables and 6 qts of water.

3. Simmer on low heat for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Add pearl barley, stir well every 20 minutes so barley doesn’t stick for total of 60 minutes, until barley is cooked.