From my kitchen to yours - recipes to warm the heart ~ By, Maggie Rollings

Warm Up the Family with Beef Vegetable Soup

With the temperatures still chilly and rain predicted, the food forecast is Beef Vegetable Soup with crusty bread.  Spring may have sprung but we still have time before we see spring produce at its finest, and so our trusty root veg is still a prime component for a warm and comforting stock and soup.  It takes some commitment of time, and I like to start the stock process on its own day, so I am not spending so much time skimming fat and can remove it easily with a spoon after it has cooled and solidified.  I can choose to make soup the next day or freeze the stock for another soup day.  Most times it is not just ingredients but method that counts.  That is why I start out roasting the bones and root vegetables before adding beef shanks with meat and the seasoning to the water to start the stock.

 

 

Beef Stock:

3 lb beef leg  cross cut bones with marrow

2 cloves of garlic

2 carrots – in 2 inch slices

1 onion – peeled and quartered

Method:

Put in 400 degree oven in a roasting pan for 45 minutes

turning halfway through.  Bones should brown and not burn.

Then put in a stock pot with the following:

1 ½ lb cross cut beef hind shank with meat

2 stalks of celery with leafy tops

8 peppercorns

1 bay leaf

In stock pot or large soup pot, put all in the pot and put ½ cup of water in the roasting pan to loosen the bits left behind and put all in the soup pot.  Fill the soup pot with water to 1-2 inches over all the ingredients.  Add celery, peppercorns and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil.  I cover with a lid for the first couple of hours.  Turn down to low and simmer for 3-6 hours reducing by at least a third or to taste.  Yield should be 6 cups.

Let cool, then strain into a pot or large bowl that fits in your refrigerator to remove the bones/marrow, meat and produce.  Reserve the meat separately cutting into bite size pieces and removing any fat.  Place in refrigerator/freezer until ready for soup.  Store stock in refrigerator overnight and take a spatula to lift off the solidified fat. 

It’s Soup Day!  Beef Vegetable Soup:

6 cups beef stock (if you use canned, use low sodium)

1 medium size onion diced

2 large stalks of celery with leaves diced

3 medium to large size carrots sliced

1 quarter medium size napa cabbage

1 can (14 oz) original recipe stewed tomatoes

1 tsp salt

Optional:  1 box frozen mixed vegetable

Reserved bite size meat from stock

1/2 C orzo pasta or combination of barley and petite size macaroni

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Bring stock to a boil.  Add onion, celery, and carrot and boil for 5 min.  In a blender, combine the stewed tomatoes and the cabbage cut in chunks to fit.  Pulse until tomatoes and cabbage reduced to fine dice but not pureed.  Add to soup pot with tsp of salt and bring to a boil again, then simmer 10 minutes.  If you are using the frozen veg, add at the same time as the tomato and cabbage.  Finally, add reserved meat and orzo or barley/macaroni combination, boil for 10 minutes, then season to taste. 

Soup’s on! Add crusty bread for a hearty meal.  Next time – procrastination pays off with banana bread!

By, Maggie Rollings