Pressure cooker Vegetable Beef Soup

By gbvampy1

VARIATIONS

Minestrone Soup. Substitute 1 ½ cups of pre-cooked beans (small navy or Great Northern beans would be a good choice) for an equal volume of the potatoes. Substitute rice for the barley, if desired, although barley would work well. Add a few ounces of the dried pasta of your choice. Add additional vegetables of your choice, including onions, celery, diced zucchini, or, after pressure cooking, you can add green leafy vegetables like escarole, cabbage or spinach.

(Even More) Vegetables Beef Soup. Add sautéed mushrooms, peppers and onions. In spring and summer, add corn kernels, fresh peas and diced yellow and zucchini squash. During the fall, add "winter" vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower florets.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup pearl barley (or 1 cup brown rice)
• 2 1/2 cups cold water
• 2 cups pre-cooked beef
• 2 -3 cups diced potatoes
• 1 cup bite size green beans
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 cup diced stewed tomatoes (with juice)
• 4 cups beef broth (2 – 15 ounce cans)
• 2 teaspoons Beef Base
• 2 tablespoons port or red wine
• 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper

Details

Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 60mins

Preparation

Step 1

Place ½ cup of pearl barley in a strainer or colander. Rinse the barley thoroughly with cold water.
2.Add the rinsed barley and 2 ½ cups of cold water to the pressure cooker. Pressure cook at HIGH PRESSURE (10 PSI) for 15 minutes using QUICK PRESSURE RELEASE. When the timer beeps, turn off the "keep warm" function, and use your tongs to move the pressure gauge to "release". When pressure has released, remove the lid, hold the cooker lid over the bowl at a tilt to allow any hot water from the lid to run back into the bowl. Drain the water out of the barley in the strainer, and return the grain to the pressure cooker bowl.
3.Add 2 cups of diced pre-cooked beef (approximately ¼" dice).
4.Peel several potatoes, and cut them into bite size chunks (approximately ¼" dice). Add 2 – 3 cups of diced potatoes to the soup.
5.Add 1 cup of green beans (cut into bite size pieces) to the pot.
6.Peel and dice carrots into ¼" dice. Add 1 cup of diced carrots to the soup.
7.Add 1 cup of diced, canned tomatoes (plus juice) to the pot. (You can substitute chopped fresh tomatoes, if you wish.)
8.Add 4 cups of beef broth, 2 tablespoons of port or red wine, 2 teaspoons of Beef Base, and ½ teaspoon of coarsely ground pepper to the soup. Cook at HIGH PRESSURE for 5 minutes using QUICK PRESSURE RELEASE.
9.Once pressure is released, and you can remove the lid, add any beef or green vegetables you reserved until after pressure cooking (see Pressure Cooking Tip and this explanation above). Wait a few minutes for the soup to warm the new ingredients, otherwise, serve immediately.