I've really been hungry for some good beef vegetable soup!
We were back in Indiana last week and twice passed the exit to my favorite source of beef vegetable soup, The Overlook Restaurant. Philip and I lived near here when we lived in Bristow. Many Sundays found us heading down I-64 for a late lunch.
For Philip, it always started with a bowl of beef vegetable soup. I would taste it and be jealous, making a note to order it the next time. The next Sunday would come and I'd order it and love it, but it would just be too much on top of all of the other great things I had to have!
The Overlook is known for their homemade salad dressings, jams, biscuits and pies. Those homemade goodies on top of the fried pickles, chicken livers and mushrooms with horseradish sauce just never allowed much soup.
Driving by that exit last weekend made me think of that beef vegetable soup. It was soup, but it was still so hearty - fully laden with beef, corn, lima beans, tomato, green beans, potato and anything else they could think of. After putting a couple of saltines in it, there became few things that were more tasty.
Waking up this morning to a cold rain made it easy to start a pot of soup. I wanted to tackle this one from the bottom up, even though I've never made it before.
I started with what was called a 7 bone steak. I'd never really used this cut of meat before, but it looked like it offered a good balance of bone, meat and fat. I didn't want a fatty soup and I didn't need the 3 pounds of meat offered up by the chuck roasts.
Out came one of my favorite kitchen essentials... my Le Creuset dutch oven. I heated it over medium high and tossed in my 'steak' sans seasoning. I wanted to get some good browning.
After it was browned to my liking, I added my veggies and water to start my broth. It wasn't rocket surgery - just a quartered onion, a few cloves of smashed garlic, peppercorns and parsley. I added about enough water to cover. Here's what it looked like before the water went in.
I brought the contents to a boil and then turned it down to a simmer. I let it simmer for about 4 hours. If you let it boil for the next four hours, your broth will be cloudy. Immediately, the house smelled SO good. It was hard for me not to get myself a bowl of my half finished broth. Here's what the broth looked like after about an hour.
After about 4 hours, I removed the bones and meat that had fallen off. I put it on my cutting board to cool while I strained the broth. So far, so good!!
The rest went pretty quickly and I don't have any pictures, but it's pretty straight forward. I added a little olive oil, a chopped onion, celery stalk and garlic into my pot. I stirred and allowed these to cook while I peeled and cubed my potatoes. I tossed them in with the other veggies and allowed them to brown a tad. To this, I added a quart of store bought beef stock, a large can of tomato juice and a quart or more of my homemade broth. The store bought stock is beefy and salty. My broth was full of freshness and the two of them came together well to make a good base for my soup.
I added the reserved meat, some Worcestershire, basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and a little dill and thyme. I let this simmer for about a half an hour until the potatoes were tender. That's when I added my favorite veggies - lima beans, corn, green beans, diced tomato and carrots. I also added half of a large can of tomato puree at this time.
I had Philip taste it and he thought it was a touch bland, so I beefed up the salt, pepper and spices. I also added a touch more of Worcestershire sauce and (my new secret ingredient) Heinz 57. I needed a little spice and a little tang and this did it for me.
It's so freakin' good! Seriously. I just put away two bowls!
I'm so glad I made it and I have heaps of leftovers that should freeze beautifully!
I like it when a plan comes together!
The rest went pretty quickly and I don't have any pictures, but it's pretty straight forward. I added a little olive oil, a chopped onion, celery stalk and garlic into my pot. I stirred and allowed these to cook while I peeled and cubed my potatoes. I tossed them in with the other veggies and allowed them to brown a tad. To this, I added a quart of store bought beef stock, a large can of tomato juice and a quart or more of my homemade broth. The store bought stock is beefy and salty. My broth was full of freshness and the two of them came together well to make a good base for my soup.
I added the reserved meat, some Worcestershire, basil, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and a little dill and thyme. I let this simmer for about a half an hour until the potatoes were tender. That's when I added my favorite veggies - lima beans, corn, green beans, diced tomato and carrots. I also added half of a large can of tomato puree at this time.
I had Philip taste it and he thought it was a touch bland, so I beefed up the salt, pepper and spices. I also added a touch more of Worcestershire sauce and (my new secret ingredient) Heinz 57. I needed a little spice and a little tang and this did it for me.
It's so freakin' good! Seriously. I just put away two bowls!
I'm so glad I made it and I have heaps of leftovers that should freeze beautifully!
I like it when a plan comes together!
