Ok, so, the beef vegetable soup that I love so much. Homemade bone broth, beef chunks, veggie chunks, topped with some creole seasoning? Amazing. Perfect. Beautiful. This is my mom’s recipe and she’s been making some version of it since I was a kid, but the bone broth has been added within the last 5 years or so. So, here’s what you need:
For the broth:
- 2-3lb chuck roast
- Beef bones (you’re probably going to most easily find femur at the butcher counter!)
- Onions
- Carrots (the big ones u can get in bulk, preferably)
- Celery sticks (with the leaves!!!)
- Bay leaves
- Other broth accoutrements; go nuts, its your broth. Garlic, peppercorns, spices, herbs, whatever.
- Water
For the soup:
- Water (probably; at some point the broth might get too concentrated as everything simmers together, so add to taste!)
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- ¼ cup barley
- Diced potatoes
- 1-2lb of frozen soup veggies; you should be able to find this in the frozen section at your grocery store. It usually has carrots, potatoes, corn, green beans, lima beans, okra, peas, celery, and onions, but you’re welcome to mix and match what veggies you like. Personally I prefer when we make the potatoes from fresh rather than frozen, and I’m not a fan of okra, but you do you.
Steps for broth:
- Preheat your oven to 450*F
- Prep your veggies. Quarter the onions, cut the carrots and celery into 2″ chunks (set the celery leaves aside for now), if you’re using garlic cut the entire bulb in half lengthwise.
- Spread the femur bones and vegetables out on a cookie sheet. I like to throw some pepper on everything at this point, no salt yet though. Save that for the end!
- Bake at 450*F for 20 minutes. (In the last 5 minutes or so, if you’d like, you can take them out, brush the bones with tomato paste, and then bake for the last 5 minutes. This adds a lot of really tasty flavor!)
- Throw all that stuff, including the juices and scrapings, into a stock pot. Add the roast, celery leaves, bay leaves, and any more pepper you’d like, as well as some salt.
- Cover with water, and allow to simmer for an hour to an hour and a half.
- Once that time is up, remove the roast and set it aside, then transfer all the other stock pot contents into a slow cooker. Cook this bad boy on low for 8-24 hours. And remember, kids: time equals flavor! So go nuts! After its done, if you’re a weenie, you can chill and remove the fat that solidifies at the top. But like… c’mon, man, that’s tasty shit
Now that you’ve been plagued with delicious scents for an entire calendar day, let’s make the soup:
- At some point while your slow cooker is tormenting you from its place on the counter, cut your roast into bite-sized chunks and save them for soup time.
- Once you’re ready to go, strain your broth of all the solids and put the broth in your stock pot. Now’s a good time to taste it to see if you need to add water or if you’re good to go.
- Add your barley, and cook for 10-15 minutes.
- Add diced tomatoes, potatoes and frozen veggies, and cook for 20-30 minutes.
- Add meat chunks. At this point, you can heat through and serve, but make sure your potatoes are fork tender and everything is cohesive. Taste for salt.
- Serve with creole seasoning, and your favorite loaf of bread! (Might I recommend this lard bread recipe that makes so much bread it could kill a man?)
This soup will last a while in the fridge, and does best flavor-wise if you heat it up on the stovetop again. It’s kinda like chili; the flavors get to know each other when they rest in the pot together for a while. Makes for a good several meals with tasty tasty soup
My mom just made this and sent me home with a bunch of it so I’m bringing back this recipe. Also, using fire roasted diced tomatoes? Very tasty. Also also, tbh use as much barley as you want, go crazy.