Most people have chicken soup for the Friday night Sabbath meal. A friend’s mother, however, always made the following soup, of her own invention, and so her family named it “Friday Night Soup.” One of the pleasures of this soup is gnawing on the bones, served up in their own bowl, so this is definitely something to eat when you’re not expecting polite company! It’s great to eat with that first autumn cold snap, in the sukkah, and the more you reheat it, the better it gets. Sop up the juices in your bowl with some great homemade challah bread.

Friday Night Soup

Yield: 12 or more servings

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds top rib, flanken, or other inexpensive cut of beef
• 3-4 bones for soup
• ½ cup yellow split peas
• 1 cup lima, navy, or marrow beans
• ¼ pearled barley
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt
• 6 whole cloves
• 1 can tomatoes
• 2 large onions, cut into quarters
• 3 large carrots, cut into large pieces
• 4 stalks celery, cut into large pieces
• 1 cup chopped dill weed
• 1 cup chopped parsley

Method:

1. Place meat and bones in large stock pot. Fill pot halfway full with water. Bring to a boil. Skim top.
2. Place yellow split peas, beans, and barley in strainer. Rinse well under running water. Add to soup. Bring back to a boil, add salt, garlic salt, and cloves. Lower heat, simmer for 1 ½ hours.
3. Add onions, carrots, celery, and canned tomatoes (break with a spoon before adding). Bring to a boil. Lower heat, simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Add dill weed and parsley, bring to the boil, then lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste soup for seasoning. Serve.