Beef, Leek & Barley Soup

This recipe is from the book: "Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen" by Laurie Colwin. As with all soup recipes, you as chef can change ingredients or add or subtract ingredients to make it something you like. Please post a critique if you happen on anything that makes a good tasting soup.

• Ready In: 3 hrs 20 mins
• Serves: 8-16

Ingredients

• 2  beef short ribs, meaty (cut or not)
• 1⁄2 cup pearl barley
• 3  garlic cloves, minced
• 2  onions, chopped
• 3  big leeks, cut lengthwise (use both white and green parts)
• 2  cups  chopped mushrooms (optional)
• 8  cups  filtered water or 8  cups  beef stock
•  black pepper

Directions

1. Trim the short ribs to get any surface fat and place on bottom of soup pot.
2. Add barley, garlic, onions, leeks, and optionally mushrooms. (I like to add, rather that straight mushrooms, mushrooms and peppers fried in bacon grease.) You can also, at this point, add any other vegetable you have on hand.
3. Pour in the filtered water. Let simmer on the back of the stove for a minimum of three hours.
4. At the end of simmering, skim off the fat, take the short ribs out, cut the meat from the bones, chop it and put it back in the soup.