Recipes

[Honeybit]

Back when I was a teenager (and dinosaurs roamed the earth) there were lots of little mom-and-pop restaurants scattered around the Atlanta area. Alas, there’s nothing like them now, but there was one we went to regularly for lunch that had the most wonderful vegetable soup with a rich tomato broth that I have been trying to recreate for years. (Probably the vegetables came right straight out of their own garden.) Every time I tried, the broth would be too thin and characterless or too sharp with tomato acid. A couple of weeks ago I found two old community cookbooks at a library book sale which had similar recipes titled “Homemade Vegetable Soup” -- both using water instead of stock. I combined the two and attained Soup Nirvana. Interestingly, Zhills posted a recipe here in the May 2013 Exchange Game called Aunt Gladys’ Soup which is very similar (see at the end of this post).

PERFECT (for me) VEGETABLE-BEEF SOUP

Broth
1-1/4 pounds beef chuck (or “stew beef”, cut into bite-size chunks **
2 cups water
2 large “Vegetable Soup” bouillon cubes (Brand I used is TELMA -- not critical)
1 large white onion, diced
2 small Vidalia Onions, diced (or 1 large sweet onion)
1 or 2 small clove(s) garlic, chopped fine
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp (or a few liberal shakes) Worcestershire or HP sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2-3 dashes celery salt
2-3 dashes dried basil
2-3 dashes dried oregano
(My “dashes” are generally from the mouth of the jar and not the sprinkler holes)
1 (2-lb) can diced tomatoes (note: I only found the large cans in a 1 lb-12oz size, so I used an additional small (15 oz) can petite diced tomatoes), undrained
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce (not tomato paste, not pasta sauce)
(use liquid from cans of corn to rinse the tomato cans and add to stock pot)
1 or 2 TB red wine vinegar
(you may want to change how much you add or add it just before the end of cooking)

Vegetables:
3 medium-sized baking potatoes, scrubbed well but not peeled -- sliced and quartered into whatever size you want in a mouthful of soup -- I like relatively large chunks of potato in mine

2-3 medium-size carrots, scrubbed but not peeled, sliced and quartered into whatever size you want in a mouthful of soup -- I like relatively small bites of carrot

20 pods of fresh (or frozen) okra -- leave small pods whole, cut large ones bite-size

2 or 3 (15-oz) cans Del Monte white corn, undrained (the liquid adds a touch of sweet to cut the tomato acid) (Make one of the cans Del Monte Gold and White Corn if you like)

1 14-oz can (or 2 if you like) Del Monte cut green beans, drained (reserve juice in case you need a little additional seasoned liquid at the end of simmering)

Directions:

Brown the beef in batches in a small amount of vegetable oil and put into stock pot. (I add the remaining juices and fat from the skillet to the stock pot for flavor.) Add the water, seasonings, tomatoes, and tomato sauce and let the pot begin to simmer while you cut up the vegetables.

Cut and add the carrots first, then the potatoes, then the okra. Open the cans and add the remaining ingredients. Simmer until the meat, potatoes, and carrots are tender. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

This makes such a beautiful pot of soup -- the large chunks of potato, the gold of the carrots and corn, the green of the okra and beans -- all floating in the rich red tomato broth. It makes the house smell wonderful, too.

** I also made a double batch of this soup using 2-1/2 pounds of ground chuck (I like the beef chunks better, but they do play havoc with all of those big fillings in my teeth!). I browned the ground beef with a little salt and some diced onion, added a little of it to the soup while it simmered, but waited until the end to add most of it so it wouldn’t cook all to pieces.

Note: Some people think soup isn’t soup unless it contains cabbage. Some want butter beans (lima beans). Some can’t abide okra. Some want diced celery. Add and delete until you have your own version of Vegetable Perfection.
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For reference, here is Zhills’ soup from the Recipe Exchange Game in May:

Aunt Gladys’ Soup from Zhills

1 lb beef or your favorite meat, ground or cubed; I brown ground beef, cubed can be added raw.
I like to add more potatoes than other veggies.
3 lg potatoes cut into 1/2” cubes
3 raw carrots or 1 small can
2 celery ribs
1 sm onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz) undrained
1/2 cup okra (optional)

I have added a small amount (1/4 cup) of cut up cabbage or greens after 20 mins.
Add 1 can chicken broth and 1 can beef broth (I use Beef ‘Better than Bouillon’ and water)
Salt and pepper to taste. (broth is already salted)
Cook until veggies are tender. About 30 minutes.
Broth can be diluted with water to obtain desired taste. Makes 3 quarts