Building a soup

Sunday was spent in the kitchen making some soups. I decided to do a sort of vegetable beef stew and R requested chicken noodle for his lunches.


For the vegetable beef stew, I lightly floured* 2 lbs of extra lean stew meat and browned it in a small amount of olive oil, in batches. Set aside the meat on a plate. In the remaining fat, add 2 chopped onions, 1 c thinly sliced carrots, and 1/2 c chopped celery.



Give that 10-15 minutes to soften. Then I added 1 chopped zucchini, about 1 1/2 c fresh green beans, and 2 diced potatoes.





THEN, I added the herbs - a sprig of rosemary, several sprigs of thyme, and some bay leaves, along with more salt/pepper. And I squished in some roasted garlic.



I added about 1/2 c of red wine and allowed that to simmer. Then came a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, with their juice, and 2 boxes of beef broth. I let that simmer forever, meanwhile, adding about 1/3 c of pearl barley, 1/4 elbow macaroni, and about 1/4 c lentils. There was also corn. I added about a shot's worth of Worcestershire sauce and probably a tsp of bouillion powder over the duration of the cooking time. I don't have a pic of the final product, because I keep forgetting. But it is quite good. And we're eating it again tonight. Third night of it. Yeah.


The chicken soup is much quicker. First, I browned 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs in a small bit of oil. Once the skin was browned, I added some salt and pepper, and 1 box and 1 can of low sodium chicken broth, along with a can's worth of water. I added a sprig of rosemary, two thyme sprigs, a sprig of majoram, more salt and pepper, 1 chopped onion, about 1 c of chopped carrot and 1 stalk of chopped celery (R doesn't like celery). I also squeezed in some remaining roasted garlic, about 3 cloves worth. I allowed that to simmer at a low boil for about 20-25 minutes, until the chicken was cooked through. I took the chicken thighs out, and replaced them with 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. After 15 minutes, those were also removed, and all the chicken parts were de-meated and the meat was shredded (skin/bones were discarded, much to the pup's dismay). The chicken meat was returned to the pot, the liquid was brought back up to a boil, and a heaping handful of egg noodles were added and cooked until soft. And that's that.








*I seasoned the flour with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.