Autumn Day Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup
Chock full of diced beef and vegetables in a beefy, tomatoey broth. You can count on feeding a crowd as this makes about a gallon of soup. It freezes very well, so serve a quart today and save some for another chilly Fall day. I make this in 2 stages. First, a full flavored broth and then I pull everything together to finish the soup. The longer it simmers, the better the flavor. And if you can wait that long, it always tastes better the next day! This may seem to have a lot of steps to it, but it's really easy, peasy.
Servings: 12 about 1 gallon
Ingredients
The Broth Ingredients
- 1 LB Beef Soup Bone with plenty of meat attached
- 2 Stalks Celery with leaves roughly chopped
- 2 Medium Onions peeled and quartered
- 1 Large Carrot Chunked
- 2 Garlic Cloves peeled and smashed
- 2 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Whole Peppercorns
- 4 Quarts Water
The Soup Ingredients
- 1 Cup celery with leaves Chop it bite sized
- 2 large Carrots Chop them bite size
- 1 Small onion about 1/2 cup diced
- 2 Cups Potatoes Chop them bite sized
- 1 1/2 Cups Corn Canned or Frozen
- 1 Cup Green Peas Frozen work well
- 1 14 oz can Diced Tomatoes with juice
- 2 TBSP Worchestershire Sauce
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1/2 Tsp ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 Cup Small Shell Pasta cooked
Instructions
Beef Cut
- This is the cut of beef I used. Lots of meat!
Brown the beef
- In a heavy skillet,in a tiny bit of oil, brown the beef well on both sides. The soup bone and beef have plenty of fat that's released as it browns, but to start the browning I use just a splash of oil. I love this one additional step. It adds a depth of flavor to the soup that makes it extra special.
Building the broth
- While the beef is browning roughly chop the celery, carrot and onions. Put them in a kettle that will hold at least a gallon. Add the 4 quarts of water, bay leaves, smashed garlic, salt and pepper. Remove the browned beef from the skillet. Add it to the soup kettle. Bring it all to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 1 hour. After an hour, strain the vegetables and meat into another large pot. RESERVE the broth and the meat! ( Have you ever thrown the broth out by mistake? How do I know that happens?) Discard the vegetables. Dice the beef bite sized. Return the meat and the broth to your big soup kettle.
- This is the size I like for my veggies.
- Add all the vegetables to the diced beef and broth. Add the undrained tomatoes, Worchestershire Sauce and Salt n Pepper. Bring this all to a boil. Then reduce the heat to simmer and let it simmer away for an hour. Add the cooked Small Shell Pasta and heat through.
- Then get yourself a nice large bowl. Serve it up and prepare to give a longggg "sigh!" It truly is that good and warming. I think cornbread is wonderful served alongside this hearty soup. Enjoy!
