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After my very basic post on rice I’d like to proceed to the next basic cooking event: a beef broth & some ideas on simple consommé… or light soups… just a bowl filled w/ hot broth & some vegetables you’d like for a weeknight snack!
Why do I keep myself busy w/ producing a beef broth? In general I’d rely on my trusted food store where there are different ready-to-use stocks (available as beef, chicken, duck, lamb, vegetable…)… I’d grab a glass w/ stock, add vegetables, add pasta, add…. you know. That’s the quick & easy straightforward approach to a straight consommé or light soup.
What happened?
Some weeks ago I ordered a meat packet (beef only – ethical husbandry – ethical feeding – organic meat also on offer) from a crowdbutching service. It isn’t possible just to order some fillet of beef or some rib-eye steaks – no: you’ll always get a variety covering „the whole cow“. So I ended up w/ a nice piece of beef for making soup.
…& I set to work!
What do we need?
It’s a lot, but it’s easy to prepare:
- beef for making soup
- celeriac
- leek
- carrots
- onion
- parsley
- bay leaves
- peppercorns
- salt
- water.
It doesn’t take long to chop the celeriac, the onion, the carrots & the leek.
You don’t need to do any “fine chopping“: quite large pieces will do.
Add the parsley, the bay leaves, the peppercorns & salt:
Finally add the beef: just cut it into rather thick slices!
Finally add water – lots of water & start bringing the water to a boil. Close the lid & reduce the heat to allow simmering for some hours.
For the record:
I don’t create stock! A stock would mean – as I learnt from my cookbooks & from food blogs – that I’d start not only w/ some beef for making soup, but had to lay hands on some proper bones & marrowbones & roast them in the oven for a while. Afterwards I’d add the bones to the mess I prepared so far & I’d cook it all for some hours…
Finally the broth is ready…
Next steps:
- Remove the ingredients & discard anything that you won’t eat anymore… (the leek, the celeriac…)
- Strain the broth to eliminate any disturbing little bits…
…& that’s it!
- 300 g beef for making soup
- 1/4 head of celeriac
- 1 stem of leek
- 2 big carrots
- 1 onion
- 1/4 bunch of parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp peppercorns
- 1 tsp salt
- 2.500 ml water
- Clean the vegetables & cut them into pieces.
- Cut the meat into thick slices.
- Put everything in a large pot & fill in the water.
- Let it come to a boil - then put on a lid & reduce the heat for just simmering.
- Let it simmer for about 3 h.
- Discard the vegetables & the meat (or eat whatever you like...).
- Strain the broth.
- Use the broth at once for any soup or leave it for up to a week in the fridge or freeze it.
What to do w/ the beef broth?
I wrote about something like light soup or consommé…
Voilà!
We start w/ about 400 ml beef broth (for 2 servings) & add:
- 2 thin carrots (thinly sliced)
- 1/2 zucchini (aka courgette) (also thinly sliced)
- 1 big mushroom (thinly sliced)
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- some fresh parsley (finely chopped).
Just bring everything to a boil & cook for about 5 min.
Ready for serving!
Another time we also start w/ about 400 ml beef broth (for 2 servings) & add:
- 2 carrots (halved & cut in thicker slices)
- about 50 g snow peas (diagonal chopped)
- about 40 g pasta (small pasta for soups)
- salt & pepper (to taste)
- fresh parsley (finely chopped).
… & then: just bring everything to a boil & cook for about 8 min.
Absolutely correct: I stored my beef broth in 400 ml containers in the freezer – each ready for 2 servings. So I could just grab for a container in the morning – melted in the evening… (a microwave would do the same in the evening when you forgot to walk to your freezer in the morning!).
The businesswoman with too many office hours thinks
Well, well… I see that is easy to make, but it’s time consuming. Otherwise I get the base for about 5 soups. I can put into the soup whatever vegetables are waiting in my fridge. It’s also possible to intensify the light soup by adding some wiener…
Overall it’s a rather strong beef broth w/ character: smelling good & tasting even better!
