Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

On a cold rainy day, nothing makes you feel as good or warms you up like a big bowl of soup. Make mine good old-fashioned vegetable beef! Thick and flavorful, this soup does not need any introduction.  Served with cornbread muffins it is a hearty meal, anytime of the day...or night.  But make lots.  Eat all you can and freeze the rest for another rainy day.


Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe
(Serves 8-10 as main course)

Ingredients

2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1-inch chunks
6 cups beef broth
1 medium onion, chopped
2 celery stalk, sliced thin

1 tablespoon Everyday Spice Blend

1 bay leaf

1 28 ounce can tomatoes (Marzano), diced, with juices

2 carrots, sliced thin

2 medium potatoes, cubed

1-1/2 cups whole kernel corn

1 cup green peas

Preparation

Put meat in a 6-8 quart stock pot with broth, onions, celery, Everyday Spice Blend and bay leaf.  Cover and simmer 2 hours.

Add can tomatoes, carrots and potatoes; simmer 45 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender. Add corn and peas; simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Lobster-Stuffed Potato

If anyone ever held my feet to the fire and asked me to name my favorite (single item) food, I would have to say the potato! Why, you ask? Because of its endless possibilities.  Baked, roasted, fried, steamed, boiled, mashed, scalloped, grilled and stuffed. And did I forgot to mention potato soup?  Whew!  I am sure there are other preparation options, but presently I can't think of them. I can eat potatoes every day, three times a day and never tire  of them. There isn't anything you can pair with them and not have a spectacular meal. And with all of the new and improved varieties of potatoes available on the market today - fingerlings, purples, petites, etc - I expect that no other vegetable is likely to de-throne the potato of its rightful spot anytime soon.

So this past weekend, with special guests in tow, I was looking for a way to "jazz up" the usual steak and potato menu I had planned. There wasn't really anything I could do to improve the steak - already perfect in its own right - so naturally my attention turned to the almighty potato...

I had considered broiling lobster tails as a real treat to accompany the meal. Then I had an "aha" moment. Yeah, throw a lobster tail on top of the steak - not bad.  But incorporate the lobster into the potato - now that is an "out of the box" idea. Not original, but forward-thinking. And then that prompted another idea, like maybe this potato could be a meal all by itself.  Imagine that!

Lobster-Stuffed Potato Recipe

Ingredients

4 large russet potatoes

3/4 cup heavy ceream

1 stick unsalted butter, reserve 2 tablespoons

1 cup Gruyere cheese

1 pound fresh lobster meat, reserve 1/2 cup

1/2 cup chives, chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and roast potatoes until fork tender, approximately 60-70 minutes.  Cut potatoes in half, hollow out and reserved cooked potato.  Combine potato, cream, butter, cheese, salt and pepper.  Mash together and fold in lobster and chives, reserving 1/2 cup of the lobster meat.  Stuff the lobster mixture back into the potato shells, and heat in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until slightly brown on top.

In a sauté pan, heat reserved lobster meat in the reserved 2 tablespoons of butter until opaque in color.  Remove potatoes from oven and top with warmed lobster meat.