instant pot beef and barley stew

In the transition between summer and fall is a sub-season where I get ahead of myself. I start craving warm things, savory things, shroomy things, only I get in that mode before the weather is really ready to cooperate, and so in September and October I often spend a lot of time over a hot stove trying to get into the spirit of the season while I sweat in a tank top and shorts in 80°F heat at 7pm.

That said, I see pumpkin spice lattes in people’s hands earlier and earlier every year, like Christmas commercials, so I’m not the only weird one. It seems to be the norm that right around the end of summer, at what truly is probably peak summer, we become all about fall until the dead of winter when all we want is summer again. Nobody knows how to live in the moment. Especially not me.

Beef and barley is my version of a PSL: a festive, cozy, seasonal treat . But on the stove it can also be a giant pain in the ass, and not something I particularly feel compelled to make more than once a year. However, as with much of my other cooking, the Instant Pot has shown me new light, breaking the beef down easily into tender shreds, and guaranteeing the barley doesn’t have surprise crunch at the end of an hours-long cooking time. This dish freezes super well, and thaws easily for a last-minute cozy dinner or a very, very satisfying lunch.

RECIPE

After just an hour in the Instant Pot, you can have fall-apart-tender beef stew that tastes like an all-day, slow-cooked version. This one combines barley, carrots, mushrooms, kale, and other hearty ingredients for a beef stew that’s more healthy than not.

Effortful time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Serves: 6

YOU NEED

  • 2 lbs. beef chuck roast, cut into 1” cubes

  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped

  • 3 celery ribs, diced

  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped

  • 6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1” pieces

  • 8 oz. mushrooms, quartered

  • 1 tbsp. butter

  • 1 tsp. salt

  • 1 tbsp. tomato paste

  • 1 tsp. soy sauce

  • 1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

  • 2 bay leaves

  • 1 cup pearl barley

  • 2 tsp. beef better than bouillon

  • 4 cups water

  • 1 cup red wine

  • 1 bunch tuscan kale, big ribs removed, torn roughly

MAKE IT

  1. Build the flavor base. Heat the instant pot on Sauté-Low. Add the oil and saute onions, carrots, celery, and garlic for 3-4 minutes until the onions start to become transluscent. Add the tomato paste and flour and stir until the tomato paste begins to caramelize and flour is distributed, 1 minute more. Switch off.

  2. Assemble the stew. Add everything else aside from kale and sherry vinegar.

  3. Cook the stew. Seal the Instant Pot and cook for 1 hour, high pressure. Wait to depressurize naturally for 10 min, then manually release.

  4. Finish the stew. Switch to Sauté-Low again. Fold in the chopped kale and stir. Heat until the stew thickens and reduces slightly and the kale is soft and wilted. Stir in sherry vinegar to perk everything up. Whatever bottle of wine you opened to make it? Drink it.

braises, instant pot, soups & stewsA @ italian enoughcozy, fallComment