Beef and Vegetable Soup

 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."

Soupe Du Jour

I went to a cooking class at Baltimore International College last week, which was simply titled "Asian Cooking." I went with my mom, who lived in Thailand for 4 years and who I, as a child,  remember cooking fried rice and other Asian dishes for family gatherings. (So she's pretty credible, right?) We were expecting to learn about the proper Asian chopping and cutting techniques or making a perfect Pad Thai from scratch with fresh lemongrass, or maybe some sushi rolling.  But alas, the class was all about how to make "Chinese" food. I put Chinese in quotation marks because I guarantee that no real Chinese people would ever eat this food. We had fun because of the preposterousness of the recipes and situations.  I would go back for another class, if for nothing else, just the fun of it!

Here I am plating the Mandarin Chicken. Look good? Think again. I almost had to spit it out!!! It was so so so nasty! Everyone in the class was trying to be polite and eat it, but the room suddenly got really quiet. No "yums" could be heard. When the chef tried it, it was soooo awkward. He didn't flinch though!

Here I am pointing to the pot of sweet and sour sauce. It tasted like real sweet and sour sauce from a Chinese carry-out. Want to know what's in it? 1 gallon of vinegar. 1 gallon of sugar. 1 gallon of ketchup. Red and yellow food coloring.... oh and a.....crap load of water. No measurement. A crap load. Literally, the chef took a bucket to the faucet that had dirty dishes piled around and "creek creek creek" turned on the spigot. He filled it with a crap load of water, then dumped it all into this pot that simmered on the burner. Hmmmm. I am totally not used to industrial size or restaurant cooking. I'll stick to my tiny kitchen cooking.

There were a few good things that came out of it. I learned to fold wontons and make wonton soup, which was actually really tasty. I might try to make that recipe soon. Not too soon, but soon enough. I also learned to make some really good lettuce wraps. I've made them before, but these were meat-less and had really good crunch, so I'll try those as well.


Speaking of soups, they can really be hearty meal when chili seems to heavy, but a salad seems too light. Here's the corn chowder I told you I was making last week.

My recipe calls for green pepper, which creates a great flavor. But if you don't like green pepper- don't add it. The soup really takes on the flavor and you won't like it if you're not a fan of green pepper.

Saute the onions and green peppers in 1 tablespoon of oil until slightly soft.

Add the corn, potatoes,  and chicken broth. I used frozen (organic) sweet white corn. Yellow would be a prettier contrast if you want more color. Also- I used carrots, but the recipe calls for chopped potatoes. Either way tastes great! Then, simmer, covered for about 10-15 minutes or until veggies are tender. Stir occasionally. 

In a small bowl combine flour, salt, and black pepper. Stir milk into flour mixture; add to corn mixture in pot. Cook and stir until slightly thickend and bubbly. Cook and stir for one minute more. Add bacon (if using). I used a tablespoon of butter to add some richness.

After simmering and thickening I served it up and added some more pepper (as I always do) and paprika and parsley for color. It tastes so fantastic with crab, if you can get lump crab meat or pick it yourself in the summertime.

Here's the list of ingredients:
6 ears or 3 cups of froze whole kernel corn
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped sweet green pepper
1 tablespoon cooking oil
14 ounces of chicken broth
1 cup cubed potato (and/or carrot)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 of a teaspoon of black pepper
11/2 cups of milk

optional:
3 slices of crispy-cooked bacon, crumbled
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts about soup, whether it be the chowder of this day or the wonton of that!