Thursdays Are For Cooking
And this time, it’s soup… Soup, because soup weather is coming in like a bat out of hell and you know you want some comfort food that goes with Ritz crackers. So this is something I threw together because I wanted a hot bowl of soup and I did not want canned soup. This was simple to put together and requires ingredients you probably have in your fridge.
Beef Noodle Soup
2 quarts of beef stock or beef broth (I used the 32-ounce boxed beef stock.)
1 or 2 bundles of green onions, cut up, including the tails
Radicchio (red cabbage) or green cabbage, shredded, or bok choy, cut up** — If you don’t have cabbage, that’s okay, too.
3 to 4 stalks of celery, including the leaves, sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1 to 2 drained cans of mushrooms, or one to two boxes of fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced up, including the stems
One good handful of long pasta or Chinese noodles or ramen noodles. Cook this ahead.
A good, spicy soy sauce, such as Tamari by San-J (La Choy is too mild for this). Your stores may carry a variety of soy sauces, so try several and pick out what you like best. Using soy sauce instead of salt is a better option if you’re on a salt-restricted regimen. You still want flavor, and there are very peppy soy sauces that are low in salt.
Leftover beef or pork, shredded or cut into strips or thin chunks. You can substitute canned beans for meat, if you need to do so. Ham will not work in this recipe.
Directions:
Put the beef stock in the sauce pan. I used my 5 quart pan, but you may need a bigger pot. I did get 5 generous servings out of this, so take that into account.
Add all of the prepped ingredients, including the cooked pasta and beef or pork, and then the soy sauce (about 1/4 to 3/8 cup of it), and stir it all well. You can also add chopped fresh garlic, but salt & pepper are not really necessary in this dish.
Partially cover the pot, and let it simmer slowly over a very low flame. Do NOT let it boil over. Occasionally, lift the lid, and sample the cooking broth and the other ingredients.
When you feel like you’re starving to death and the egg rolls and frozen lime sake won’t keep you happy, sample the soup and if it’s ready (or you’re starving), put it in a good deep bowl and enjoy it.
This will keep you good and warm this winter and it’s easy to fix and enjoy. Just keep it in the fridge, covered, and have some crackers with it, and then apple pie & ice cream for dessert.
Most definygoing to try this.
Do some taste testing on the soy sauces to decide which works best for you, too
“…comfort food that goes with buttered milk cornbread”. FIFY, Mi’Lady! Crackers? PFFFFT! Whiles you a’waitin’ on the beef beast, wid cabbages, ‘shrooms, noodles and such to percurlate lowly, you can be baking a skillet full of Southern Goodness. Just saying.
Was getting famished while waiting on the thread to drop, so I skillet grilled some smoked porked beast chops, added some essential oil infused green beans, and a good helping of the tater salad from Tuesday took some of the edge off.
Hit the K Roger in the little big town on yesterday for a provision run. Did fairly well in the meat dprt, procuring nearly 50lbs of assorted beast, beef, poked, and yard birded. Some the things we have discussed of late are happening in the supply chain now. The warehouse is not getting enough product to the stores and what little bit they are getting, they don’t have the help to get it on the shelf. Meat and grocery managers I spoke with said it’s just gonna get worse. They are only receiving about half of what they order. Wednesday is the day that particular location gets their main weekly shipment and the shelves looked like they would at close of business late Friday or Saturday night. Picked clean. I’m gonna hit another location that gets resupplied on Thursday night, tomorrow, another that gets resupplied Sunday evening Monday morning, and another that gets their truck on Monday evening 1st (ht 2 Roh-Dog) thing Tuesday. Getting time to fort up folks.
Soup dish sounding good. Never thought about the soy sauce trick. Have been using the Mrs. Dash v the salt per your recommendation a while back.
Thanks! Let’s eat!
Thanks, KoB. You’re saying we’re going to hit the grocery lows again? No surprise there, but geezo Pete, you’d think there’d be some kind of prepping for this.
OK, so stock up on beef, chicken, pork, ham, and sausage, and don’t whine.
Is this ever going to stop being ridiculous?
Use the broad egg noodles for this- your inner Mennonite will thank you.
But mashed potatoes ain’t bad, either.
Pressure cooker in 5, 4, 3….
*grin*
Thanks, Ex.
My pleasure, 1st Class!
For those who like to cook under pressure….
From the folks at Pillsbury:
The main difference between soup and stew is found in the primary ingredient: liquid. In soup, the liquid is the main deliverer of the ingredients within the pot. Soup can either be completely liquified, or it can include other elements (such as meat, fish or vegetables) that are fully submerged in broth, water or stock.
Stew, however, is much heartier and thicker than soup. The ingredients are chunkier, too, and while the overall dish includes liquid, it contains just enough to cover the main ingredients.
With that in mind…..
Instant Pot Beef and Beer Stew
Ingredients
2 lb Beef Stew Meat cut into bite sized peices
1/4 Cup flour
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp ground pepper
2 Tbsp Butter
1 Packet dry onion soup mix
2 cups beef stock
1 12 oz bottle of beer (lager or dark ale)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups uncooked medium egg noodles
Frozen peas and carrots thawed (optional)
Add beef stew meat, flour, salt & pepper to a large ziploc bag. Toss until evenly coated.
Turn Instant Pot on to saute and add butter. When butter is melted add beef and garlic to pot. Brown meat on each side (about 3-5 minutes).
When meat is browned, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Deglaze the bottom of the put with two cups of beef stock. When the bottom is clean, add the meat back in.
Add beer, tomato paste, Worcestershire, and dry onion soup mix.
Close Instant Pot and set to 35 minutes on manual high pressure.
When time is up, allow for a 10 minute natural release.
Once released add uncooked egg noodles and close top. Set for 1 minute on manual high pressure. Quick release when the time is done.
Stir in frozen veggies and allow to sit for around 5 mins (until warmed).
Enjoy!
You had me at beef and beer, gc.
Egg noodles was on my list to increase my prep stocks on. Alas that shelf was totally empty. Rice, packs of instant potatoes, and dried beans were very lacking too.
With this crowd, anything with beer is going to be a winner. 😉