Beef and Vegetable Soup

After an hour of searching for a way to cook up the second half of the chuck roast from last night's Braised Beef with Lentils, I came across a recipe for a lentil sausage soup from one of my favorite high-class cooking mavens, Ina Garten. Recipes aren't instructions for me, as I rarely follow what they say. Instead I use them as inspiration. I scan the ingredients, check the cooking technique and then put the recipe away. In this way I can modify it to my own personal tastes and the ingredients I have on hand. Also, not using specific amounts also means I can cook for less than a gaggle and not have to do any math!


The main difference between Ina's recipe and my own is the protein. Since she used a precooked sausage she could just toss it in at the end and let it come to temperature just before serving. My chuck roast, however, needs to cook long and slow. So, I cut it into inch-sized cubes (not sure of the weight as it was leftover, but I got about twenty cubes or so) and browned it in a bit of olive oil, then into a crock pot it went.


Also in the crock went a roughly chopped mirepoix (for me, it worked out to be three small celery stalks, three small carrots and half a small onion), two roma tomatoes chopped about the same size, a tablespoon of my go-to mixture herbes de Provence, a small can of reduced-sodium chicken stock, and a teaspoon or so of crushed pepper. I find it best to not add salt at this point; even reduced sodium stock imparts a salty flavor, and it's easier to add salt to take it out.


Last comes the final ingredient. In the pan that the beef was browned in, I added a half cup of whatever random white wine I had in the fridge and a few cloves of minced garlic and let it deglaze and reduce, then poured that into the crock as well. Add water to cover the mixture and set on low.


Five or six hours later when the meat is fork tender and your house smells like heaven, turn the crock to high, add a quarter cup of lentils and continue cooking till soft, about twenty minutes. I had originally planned on eating this as a stew, but the blender was calling my name. Carefully remove all of the pieces of meat and blend the mixture in batches until smooth. Place meat back into the soup. Garnish with a little creme fraiche and parsley.


The soup was so delicious I completely forgot to photograph it prior to eating. Oh well, there's plenty left for lunch tomorrow.