About a year ago, I had a daughter in school in Boston and a son in school in Montreal, both of whom were clamoring for my Beef Vegetable Soup recipe. Now keep in mind that this is comfort food, a touch of home. It is probably also one of the least complicated things I make. But on a cool fall day, there is nothing like a bowl of hot soup. A grilled cheese sandwich on the side doesn’t hurt. So rather than just writing the recipe down, I made a batch of soup and Yaya filmed me teaching Christy how to make it. It took months in editing, but at last we have the end product. So here is the recipe and the video. I hope you enjoy it!
Beef Vegetable Soup
2 pounds of mixed vegetables (frozen is acceptable, but allow to come to room temperature)
1.5 to 2 pounds of lean ground beef (85% or higher)
1 tablespoon of Canola Oil or Olive oil
1 cup of onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 Bay leaf
1 teaspoon fresh Thyme
60 oz of Beef Stock or broth, this is roughly 2 boxes or 4 cans.
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 smaller (14 – 15 oz) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup of diced potato (unless you are using frozen vegetables that already contain potato.
Salt
Pepper
Chop the onion, garlic, and potato. Placing the potato in ice water will keep it from turning brown and remove some of the starch.
In a Dutch oven or soup pot, bring the oil to a moderately low temperature. Sweat the onion and garlic to translucent. Increase the temperature and add the hamburger. Stir contents of the pot, until ground beef is thoroughly brown and in small chunks.
Add the vegetables, potatoes, stock and tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes at the simmer stage. Add Salt and Pepper to taste.
Curl up by the window and watch the leaves change color as you enjoy your stew!
Aunt Patty's Porch 