Vegetable beef soup

A filling fall meal

This soup has been a fall staple at my home for as long as I can remember. It’s beef-based, but not as heavy as a stew. It’s filling yet light, and the broth is on the clear side, tinted slightly red because of the tomatoes. I use salt and pepper and a bit of beef consommé to add flavor.

This is a simple recipe allowing the vegetables to take center stage. If you can’t tolerate strong spices or flavors, this is a good choice.

This recipe also is flexible — generally, you can use fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables, although I recommend frozen green beans rather than canned beans. You can add zucchini or omit the cabbage or corn. It’s a good way to use up extra vegetables you have on hand.

I don’t usually suggest “diet recipes,” but when I’m watching my calories I really enjoy this soup. I can have two bowls and a small piece of bread and feel full until my next meal.

The beef adds some protein and flavor, but the vegetables are the bulk of the soup. If you want to serve this with barley or egg noodles, prepare them separately and add them to each bowl when serving.

I make a large pot of this soup because it keeps for five days in the refrigerator and also freezes well.

Ingredients:
1 ½-2 pounds beef stew meat
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups yellow onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
2 cups celery, diced
2 cups Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large tomatoes diced or 2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained
¼ to ½ of a large cabbage, chopped
2-3 cups carrots, sliced
2 cups green beans, fresh or frozen
2 cups corn, fresh or frozen, or 1 can of corn, drained
16 cups water
2 tablespoons sea salt
10 black peppercorns
Beef bouillon powder for flavoring
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Stew meat often comes in pretty large pieces so I usually cut the pieces in half to ensure that every bowl has several bites of beef.

Place a large soup pot over medium heat to warm for a few minutes.

Add the olive oil and brown the meat, stirring every 2-3 minutes to get all sides, for 8-10 minutes in total.

Add the chopped onion, carrots, celery and garlic to the meat and cook for 5 minutes before adding the tomatoes (don’t drain if you’re using canned) and 16 cups of water, with 2 tablespoons of sea salt and the whole peppercorns.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover the soup and simmer for 1 hour, which will create the broth base. This is a good time to taste the broth, which will be mild but should have some flavor. If it needs more flavor, add low sodium beef consommé powder to taste. Start with 1-2 tablespoons of low sodium powder.

Add the potatoes, cover and let cook for another 20-25 minutes or until the potatoes are fork- tender.
Add the green beans, corn and cabbage last; cover and simmer for about another 20 minutes.

If you need to add more water, add enough just to cover the vegetables. Fresh vegetables may need a little more time to cook than frozen or canned.

I like the vegetables to be tender-crisp upon the first serving. When you don’t overcook the vegetables they maintain their bite even after several days in the fridge.

If the broth is flavored well but is a little too watery, add a few more tablespoons of olive oil for richness.
Add sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Enjoy and bless your hands! PJC

Jessica Grann is a home chef living in Pittsburgh.