With all of the preparations going on around here, there's little time to prepare meals every night. Greg and I have been tag-teaming dinner and one of the ways we're saving time is by making meals that can last a couple of days. It's hard with this soup because it's so good, you want to stuff yourself full of it, but we've been trying to make it last. I love this because it's hearty, warm, delicious, and it satisfies my salty craving as well as my need to eat a balanced meal. Chomping down on meat, potatoes, and veggies is way better than the pizza regimen that I was falling into.
For this recipe, I start start by peeling and chopping about 4 small-medium red-skin potatoes and putting them to the side. Then, I heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven. Meanwhile I cut the stew meat down into more manageable chunks and cut any big pieces of fat off. Whole Foods sells the stew meat in big chunks, so I have to cut those down at least in half. I like using their grass-fed beef because stew meat can be really tough and chewy, but this is really flavorful and it's tender, which makes it easier to eat in a soup. I try to make the meat chunks about the same size as the potatoes. I brown the meat with chopped onion, about a teaspoon of minced garlic, and some rough-chopped heirloom tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and dried basil. I have to take the skin off of the tomatoes, and then I just chop them and throw them into the simmering pot with the meat, oil, etc. After the meat browns and everything cooks for about 10 minutes on medium, I skim any grease off the top, and I add a carton of beef broth, 1/2 cup of water (at most), and 2-3 tablespoons of tomato sauce. My grandmother always used V-8 juice, which is also good and adds a kick. I turn the temperature up to medium-high to get a boil going, and put the lid on. I let it all boil for about 20 minutes to get the potatoes tender. Meanwhile, I defrost about a cup of frozen veggies. After 20 minutes, I add the veggies and set the temperature down to simmer for another 20 minutes. This is where I usually taste the broth to make sure there's enough salt and pepper (you could add V-8 or hot sauce if you like a kick). I also taste the potatoes to make sure they're getting tender. This is where a bite usually turns into a small bowl...you know, to have a proper "taste test."
