Beef, Barley and Vegetable Soup

The interesting thing about getting a CSA meat subscription is that sometimes we'll get something that I have no idea what to do with. I am still trying to get through meat from January (I write the date on the labels so that I know when I got it) and slowly, we are going through it. We'll sign up for another one later in the summer when the meat finally dwindles down, but we'll go for a smaller monthly package because we'll be trying out some of the other meats from the farmer's market (elk, lamb, bison, etc).



When I received a shank bone, I didn't know what to do with it. After some research online, I came across this soup recipe that was perfect for all the gloomy, rainy days that we have had lately. I really loved the flavor of this soup and the stew meat (also something that I had in the freezer from Amy's Meats), but I found the shank meat a little tougher than I liked. The meat bone did bring out more complexity to the broth, so I think that omitting it would be a problem.
But I loved the hot pepper sauce in this soup and ended up adding more to my own bowl. Great idea!


Beef, Barley and Vegetable Soup from Bon Appetit magazine February 2001
serves 8



2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 pound beef stew meat
1 pound meaty beef bones (such as beef shank bones)
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1/4 cup pearl barley
4 cups water
2 14 1/2-ounce cans beef broth
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
1 10-ounce package frozen corn kernels
2 cups frozen sliced okra
2 small bay leaves
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce



Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add stew meat and bones; sauté until beef is dark brown, about 8 minutes. Transfer beef and bones to plate. Add celery, onion, and barley to pot. Sauté until onion is golden, about 15 minutes. Add 4 cups water, beef broth, tomatoes with juices, corn, okra, bay leaves, and garlic powder. Return beef and bones to pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until beef is almost tender, about 1 hour.
Add peas and 1 1/2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce to soup. Cover and simmer until beef is tender, about 30 minutes longer. Season with salt, pepper, and more hot pepper sauce, if desired.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

When I decided to go pick some asparagus, I knew that I wanted to make some cream soup. I LOVE cream soups and I LOVE asparagus, so it was a no brainer when I found this simple recipe from Elise's wonderful website. I didn't have any vermouth, so I omitted it. I do see how it would have brought out more flavor though. It's probably not worth buying an entire bottle for just this, but use it if you have some in your liquor cabinet.



Creamy Asparagus Soup from Elise of Simply Recipes

Ingredients
2 lbs asparagus
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
5 cups chicken broth
Leaves of 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp dry vermouth
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Salt and pepper

1) Cut tips from 12 asparagus 1 1/2 inches from top and halve tips lengthwise if thick. Reserve for garnish. Cut stalks and all remaining asparagus into 1/2-inch pieces.

2) Cook onion in butter in a 4 or 6-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add asparagus pieces and salt and pepper to taste, then cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Add 5 cups broth, thyme, and simmer, covered, until asparagus is very tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

3) While soup simmers, cook reserved asparagus tips in boiling salted water until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes, then drain.

4) Purée soup in batches in a blender until smooth. If you want a very creamy texture, you can put the purée through a food mill or press it through a sieve. Transfer to a bowl (use caution when blending hot liquids), and return to pan. Stir in cream. Stir in vermouth and a squeeze of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with asparagus tips.

Serves 4-6.
Adapted from a recipe in Gourmet magazine

Tonight's Dinner- Pizza and Creole Corn Chowder

Nathaniel has been waiting for me to make pizza again for awhile now. Since I didn't get the roast cooking early enough, I decided why not try out a new pizza crust recipe that I had been eyeing for months now. It turned out great and it was simple with only 10 minutes sitting time to rise. The crust is a thin wheat crust, but it's not cracker-like as with some thin crusts. You won't be able to use lots of sauce or toppings since the crust is so thin, but that's good for the waist line. I added a little bit of tomato sauce with herbs and some fresh mozzarella. Perfect! Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Since the pizza crust only made two pizzas (one for Nathaniel, half for me & Chris), I decided to make creole corn chowder. I have wanted to make this chowder for years now, but I never got around to it. Since we had gotten some ham in our meat CSA subscription, I had the perfect excuse to make it tonight. It's pretty thick, so if you might want to add more milk or cream to your pot of chowder. The chowder is also pretty spicy, so you might adjust the red pepper in the soup to your taste.

Creole Corn Chowder from Neiman-Marcus' No Jacket Required

serves 10 to 12

2 cups finely diced bacon

2 cups finely diced onion

2 cups finely diced green bell pepper

2 cups finely diced red bell pepper
2 cups finely diced ham

4 cups corn

3 cups diced tomatoes

1/2 cup tomato juice

1 teas oregano

1 teas basil

1 teas thyme

2 teas red pepper flakes

1 teas black pepper

2 cups milk

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup oil

2 cups cream

Saute bacon in heavy pan until crisp. Add onion and bell peppers, cook until limp. Add ham, corn, tomato juice and seasonings. Simmer 30 minutes. Bring milk to boil in a saucepan. Make a roux to corn mixture and mix well. Add milk. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes. When ready to serve, add cream and cook until hot. (This recipe can be cut in half, which is what I did)

Cream of Tomato Soup

I made this with my fresh tomatoes from the Farmer's Market when Melanie was in town. We were talking about soup and she mentioned that she liked tomato soup. I told her to come on over for lunch and I would make some. There is nothing like homemade soup and I refuse to eat soup from a can (I will use cream of whatever soups in dishes that I make, but not to eat plain). Homemade soups take more time than opening a can, but the results are so worth it. If you love soup, do yourself a favor and make some from scratch! My picture was super blurry, so no picture--sorry!


Cream of Tomato Soup from Neiman-Marcus' No Jacket Required

4 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 teas minced garlic
3 ripe tomatoes (4 to 5 if small), coarsely chopped
3 tbs tomato paste
4 tbs flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock (this is about 1 1/2 cans if using canned stock)
1/2 teas sugar
salt
1/2 teas thyme
white pepper (best to use freshly cracked)
1 cup heavy cream

Heat 2 tbs butter with olive oil in saucepan. Add onion and garlic, saute 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add flour and mix. Add stock, sugar, salt, thyme and white pepper. Simmer 15 minutes. Pour into blender and blend. Strain through a fine sieve. Pour in saucepan. Add cream and bring to a boil.. Reduce heat and simmer 2 to 3 minutes. When ready to serve, stir in remaining butter, bit by bit.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

There are two vegetables that Chris dislikes; broccoli and cauliflower. But when we were in Indianapolis and I ordered cream of broccoli soup, he couldn't keep his spoon away from my bowl. With the fall starting, I decided that it was time to make some soups and I already had a huge carton of heavy cream in the fridge right now. I looked through some cookbooks, but ended up finding one online that sounded easy and delicious.

If you haven't heard of Allrecipes.com yet, it's really nice because they will adjust the recipes to the serving size that you want. I adjusted the recipe to 4 servings, which worked out well because I had just enough potatoes and broccoli for that and then I invited over Melanie and baby Luke to have lunch too. I ended up having enough soup for us and Chris (with no leftovers). I did "sweat" the veggies like the recipe called for, but I am not sure if it's really necessary or not. I might try it without doing it next time and see how it goes. It's not like it was difficult or anything, but some of you might not have parchment paper in your pantry. We all had a bowl (plus some) of the soup. I just used the florets of the broccoli and I kept the stems for another use (blog to follow later). We had grilled BLTs to go along with the soup and it was a nice delicious, simple lunch. This soup will be great for those long, cold winter KS days coming up!

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Gloomy Days Need Soup

After complaining about all the gloomy (and lots of rainy) days that we have had all month, April sent me a wonderful recipe for Wild Rice Soup. Chris and I both loved it and enjoyed it with some Wheatfield's ciabatta (with some Irish butter--I'll post about that some other time. It really deserves a separate post). I didn't include the almonds since I was going to use mine for a granola recipe, but I am sure that they would have really added an extra goodness to this recipe. Thanks, April!

Wild Rice Soup-5 servings

2T marg. or butter

2 med. stalks of celery, sliced

1 med. carrot, coarsely shredded or grated

1 med. onion chopped

1 sm. green pepper, chopped

1/4 C. bisquick

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 C. water

1 can (10.5 oz. can) condensed chicken broth

1-1/2 cups cooked wild rice

1 C. half and half

1/3 C. slivered almonds, toasted

1/4 C. chopped fresh parsley

1. Melt margarine in 3qt. saucepan over med. high heat. Cook celery, onion, carrot, and bell pepper in margarine for about 4 min., stirring occasionally until tender.

2. Stir in bisquick, salt and pepper. Stir in water, broth, and wild rice. Heat to boiling, stirring frequently; reduce to low. Cover and simmer 15 mins., stirring occasionally.

3. Stir in half and half, almonds and parsley. Heat just until hot, do not boil.