Vegetable Minestrone Soup

Vegetable Minestrone

'Tis the season to be cooking. With the holiday season upon us and the prospect of many heavy meals to come, we thought it would be nice to whip up a batch of soup to serve as the basis for some lighter meals in and around the red meat fest set to commence shortly...

The basis of this was a Giada di Laurentiis recipe on a Food Network show we saw recently, but we made it from memory, and so I am not sure how closely what we made mirrors her recipe, but it is somewhat close.

Ingredients:

• 3 carrots, medium dice
• 3 ribs celery, medium dice
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled, medium dice
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 cans (15 oz each) cannelini (white kidney) or great northern (white) beans, drained and split out as noted below
• 1 medium plastic clam-shell package of "Power greens" (mix of spinach, chard and kale I think...)
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried crushed rosemary
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan, or a chunk of parmesan rind
• Beef stock (one of the larger box cartons plus a little more)

The carrots, celery, potatoes and garlic are sweated in some olive oil in a large dutch oven (we used a big Le Creuset enamled cast iron one...my favorite pot).

While the veggies sweat, put about 2/3 of one can of white beans into a blender or food processor along with a cup or so of beef broth and puree them together. When then veggies are done sweating, add the diced tomatoes, the puree'd bean/broth mixture and the remaining white beans to the pot. Add the power greens (spinach/chard/kale), the thyme and rosemary and cover with beef stock. Simmer for 40 minutes or so. If you have a chunk of parmesan rind, add it prior to the simmering, it using shredded parmesan, hold off for now. The parmesan rind is really nice if you have it; it adds a richness and depth beyond what a simple sprinkling of shredded cheese will do (and it's the part of the cheese you can't really eat anyway...). It also adds some saltiness, so let it all cook out before checking for salt near the end.

At the end of 40 minutes, if using shredded parm, add it now and simmer for another 15 minutes or so. Total simmer time is close to an hour, although this is probably longer than you really need to cook the vegetables to doneness.

Test for salt and pepper, seasoning more if needed. Simmer a few more minutes and serve. (Because the carrots float more readily than some of the other veggies, the picture is a little misleading in making it look like chunky carrot soup...).

Beef Stew

We have tried a number of different beef stew recipes over the years, and while some have been good and some have been not so good, we hadn't yet found one that really jumped out as the keeper for this dish. Until now.

Veggies, sauce base, and browned beef

As we continue to make recipes from Grace's subscription to the Food Network Magazine, we noticed a good looking beef stew recipe in the November 2013 issue (p. 210). We made it, and it was fantastic. Since it is readily available for free online (see link above), properly credited, I will repeat it in short form here. The recipe is fairly simple but cooks for a long time.

Ingredients:

• 6 TB olive oil
• 3 lbs beef chuck in 1 inch pieces
• 4 carrots, 1 roughly chopped and 3 in half inch rounds
• 4 stalks celery, 1 roughly chopped and 3 in half inch pieces
• 1 onion roughly chopped
• 1 TB tomato paste
• 1 cup hearty red wine (I used an old vines Cotes du Rhone)
• 2 quarts beef stock
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1.25 lbs russet potatoes, in chunks
• 1 lb mixed mushrooms (cremini, shitake, oyster etc)
• 4 TB unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• chopped fresh parsley

Wine..some for stew, some for me

The meat is salt and peppered then browned in batches. Then the roughly chopped part of the carrot, celery and onion is put in the pot to soften. The tomato paste is added, then the wine. When boiling, the beef and stock and thyme are added to the pot. This is then simmered on low for about two hours to cook the beef to meltingly tender.

After this, they say to strain the beef and veggies into a colander, reserving the cooking liquid. The remaining veggies are then cooked in the liquid for 20 minutes or so. We cheated and simply added the veggies to the pot and simmered for another 20 minutes. Do what we did; you'll never notice the difference. Meanwhile, saute the mushrooms in a skillet for 10 minutes or so, seasoning with salt and pepper.

Lastly, make a blonde roux with the flour and butter, and whisk some of the cooking liquid into the roux. When incorporated, add the roux into the stew, stirring to distribute it. Add the cooked mushrooms. Simmer another 5 minutes or so to thicken the sauce and you are done. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

Lots of mushrooms

We had this with a nice crusty bread, a simple salad, and the remainder of the bottle of wine used for cooking. And maybe another bottle.

Finished Product

Prep time is maybe a half hour, but total cooking time is around 3 hours, so while this is not a difficult or overly fiddly recipe, it does take a good amount of time. It is well worth the effort. The assorted mushrooms really make a big difference in this richness of the overall flavor. Highly recommended.

White Chicken Chili

Another favorite kids' recipe is White Chicken Chili (p. 365, More Best Recipes, America's Test Kitchen, 2009). I generally make this on a weekend so that we can have leftovers for the work/school week ahead.

The recipe calls for browning chicken pieces, then making a thin salsa-like mixture of onions and different varieties of green chili peppers in a blender or food processor. The blender mixture goes back in the pot with more minced chilis, cumin, coriander and garlic.

Chili and onion base cooking down

This cooks for a while, then some of it goes back in the blender with some white beans, and gets pulsed again to break down the beans. This will help thicken the sauce so you don't end up with soup. The vegetable-bean mixture goes back in to the pot with stock, more whole white beans and the chicken to simmer until done. In the version in the picture I added a diced red bell pepper to add a splash of color.

Final simmering

Total cooking time is close to an hour and a half, but much of that time is different phases of simmering. As far as work goes, there is a decent bit of chopping, and there are a couple of different uses of the blender. It's not a difficult recipe by any means, but does require your attention for good portions of the cooking time. The spiciness can be adjusted depending on the types of green chilis you use. The dish can be garnished the same way you would for a beef chili: green onions, shredded cheese, sour cream, sliced jalapenos, etc.