the businesswoman's kitchen

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Let’s 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 container 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: large pieces will do.

Add the parsley, the bay leaves, the peppercorns & salt:

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.

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 our simple 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 …

What to do w/ the beef broth?
I wrote about something like light soup or consommé …

To begin with: 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!).

So … 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.

Another time we 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).

Just bring everything to a boil & cook for about 8 min.

Enjoy!