Pure Vegetable Soup
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe by:
Serves: 4 to 6
Ingredients
  • Non-stick spray
  • 1 ½ pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 cup rough chopped yellow onion
  • 1 cup rough chopped celery
  • 1 cup rough chopped green bell pepper
  • 6 cups vegetable stock
  • 1 Creole tomato, chopped or 1 (10-ounce) can mild diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
  • 1 cup rough chopped carrots
  • 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1 cup rough chopped zucchini
  • 1 cup rough chopped yellow squash
  • 1 cup rough chopped broccoli
  • 1 cup fresh green beans
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. In a large pot sprayed lightly with non-stick spray placed over medium-high heat, add the beef. Sear the meat until it browns on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the onion, celery, and bell pepper, and cook for 5 minutes longer.
  2. Pour in the stock a little at a time and stir, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Add the rest of the stock and the tomatoes. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for 30 minutes until the meat becomes tender.
  3. Add the carrots and potatoes and simmer for another 20 minutes. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, broccoli, green beans, and peas, and simmer for another 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the heat and let the soup rest for 15 minutes before serving.
  4. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with saltine crackers and butter, or better yet, a black iron skillet of cornbread.
Notes
The choice of ingredients are up to you; use what is fresh and at the peak of season.
Staging the addition of the vegetables in intervals ensures they will cook evenly and maintain peak freshness. Rather than small, diced vegetables that begin to disintegrate in the soup, roughly chop your vegetables into larger chunks. Feel free to make ahead your own vegetable stock, but the store-bought packaged variety does deliver good results when combined with the browned beef and vegetables. I don’t recommend canned vegetables in this recipe, but if you do, be sure to pour off the canning liquid before adding to the broth. You can freeze any leftover soup in a sealed storage container for up to 3 months; be sure to leave enough headroom for the soup to expand when frozen.
Recipe by Acadiana Table at https://www.acadianatable.com/?p=22415