Caldo de Res (Beef Soup)

Another one of those great things my grandmother used to make when I was growing up was a hearty Caldo de Res or Beef soup. When she used to make this soup, it was always around this time. I used to remember when I was growing up, I actually hated it. You know as kids, we tend to always hate things that were actually good for us.

As I got older, I have learned to appreciate this little simple recipe. Granted, I continue to try to improve any recipes as I have with this one making it my own. My grandmother used to add potatoes and corn to this soup, whereas I have opted not to add that and I have used beef broth. Most of the ingredients that I got for this recipe were bought at the local farmers market.

Ingredients:

4 boxes beef broth or stock (16 oz each)
1 1/2 lb beef (bone in)
2 tbsp minces garlic
1 tbsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp worshechire
1 tbsp mexican oregano
4 stalks celery
1 large onion
3 carrots
4 zucchini squash
1/2 cabbage
2 sprigs of cilantro
Additional salt and pepper, as necessary

First, start by rinsing your beef. Sometimes you might purchase beef that have been recently cut (especially if you bought it from the meat market. This avoids any small pieces of bone that might be around the meat. Once you have rinsed that, add them into a large pot.

Place the pot on top of the stove and turn on. Add the beef stock to the beef. Bring this to a boil. Allow to cook for about 1 hour. You are trying to get the beef tender and this takes time.

Once you have the meat cooking, add the spices to the pot. This will allow the meat to get those spices as it continues to cook.

While the meat is continuing to cook, you can start chopping the vegetables. Add only the celery, onion and carrots as they cook longer than the squash or cabbage. With the cabbage, cut it in strips and place to the side.

After about 1/2 hour, check to see if the meat is tender. If it is, start to pull out and cut the meat from the bone as well as the fat. You can then throw away both as you don't need them in the soup.

 

While you are working with the meat, you can add the squash and cabbage. Allow it to continue to cook for an additional 20 minutes. You will notice that the cabbage and squash cook quickly since the soup is rather hot.

In the end, I add the cilantro. Some people also add some lime to the soup, but I tend to have it on the side and add as much as I want. I am having the soup with a couple of slices of avocado and some saltines. This is a great soup to have year round!

What about that Spicy Gumbo?

Living so close to Louisiana, I always loved the flavors that Cajun cooking brings. I especially love to eat gumbo. When I first learned to cook gumbo, I used okra. Personally, I don't like okra and if you don't lightly fry it (or so I learned), you will end up with slimy gumbo. No bueno. For this recipe, I avoided adding okra and chicken.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized celery stalks, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp bacon fat
1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp bacon fat
4 cups of chicken or fish stock
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp course ground pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp worcheshire
1 lb andouille sausage
1/2 lb shrimp
1/2 lb crawfish meat

Well, first start with chopping all of the veggies. Remember that in most Cajun and Southern cuisine, its important to have the "holy trinity" which is the celery, onion and bell pepper.

Turn on the stove and place a large pot onto the lit flame. Add the bacon fat to the pot.  As from the previous posts, I have used bacon that I have cooked on Sunday.

While you have the veggies sweating out with the bacon fat, start to make your roux in a separate pan. Add your flour to the pan that has the bacon fat. Remember the recipe where you make that gravy? Well its the same concept. Just keep in mind that a good roux has to be a nice chocolate brown.

In the pot that you are cooking the veggies in, add the stock and sausage. Allow for it to cook, but slowly add the roux to the mixture. Continue to stir the mixture and you will notice that the roux will mix will with the stock. Allow to cook for a good 5 minutes or when you notice that the roux is dissipated.

 

While that is cooking, add the spices and worcheshire to the mixture.

Notice that its crawfish season, so I had to settle for getting some frozen crawfish. Add both the crawfish and the shrimp last. You don't want the seafood to be too rubbery. If you are eating this a day or too later, add the seafood the day off. Bring this to a boil if you do that. This way it cooks evenly and it is good and hot. This is what I did as you know I tend to cook multiple meals in one day.

Traditionally, just have it with some white rice. With this, I will be eating some crackers and enjoying a tall glass of water (might be a little spicy for some).

Chicken Noodle Soup

So the weather has gotten a little colder. So what to do? People start to get sick, colds come and go, or maybe you should just have a hearty soup just because. Any kind of soup is so good for you because it has those great veggies that you need daily. It's also just good to have something that was homemade done with love and care. I know...so hokey!  :)

For this recipe, it calls for boneless chicken. I personally like to use chicken with the bone in because it adds more flavor to it (even with thighs). With kids, though, it would be easier to just use boneless chicken as you don't want the little ones to choke on small piece of bone. Also, it can be cumbersome to pick the meat out of the bone after it has been cooked. So, boneless it is!

Don't forget that this was cooked a couple of days before. Even by cooking it the day before and letting the spices settle, the soup will have plenty of flavor. Well, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp bacon fat
2 med sized onions, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
4 boxes of chicken stock or broth
6 pieces of chicken thighs
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp course ground pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsbp paprika
2 tbsp herbs of provence (savory, thyme, basil, fennel)
8 oz of dry egg noodles


Start with the celery, onions and carrots. I didn't know this until about a couple of years ago that this trinity is called a mirepoix in French cooking. Thank you Julia for that one!  :)

In the meantime, in a large pot, put in some of the bacon fat. Start to let it heat on med/low. Notice that I was actually using some bacon grease that I had left over from cooking for another dish.

After you have cut all the veggies, place them into the pot. Stir them periodically as you want the vegetables to start to sweat out.

 

Once you start to notice that the onions are getting a little translucent, add the chicken stock. Turn up the heat and bring this to a boil.

While the broth is coming to a boil, cut all of the thighs that you have into cubes. I love thighs and, no matter what people say how fatty they are, I just love the flavor. Once you are done with dicing the chicken, place into the hot pot.

Allow this mixture to boil. This will be for about 30 minutes as you have chicken and you want the meat to cook through.

The last thing you will add is the dry noodles. I only added half of the bag because there is plenty of good veggies and chicken in that pot. Mix the noodles into to pot. Keep in mind, you might need to add more hot water or broth to the pot as the noodles will soak up the liquid.

Taste the soup to see if it might need any additional salt or other spices. I don't like to add any more salt than I need to, so for me I don't add any more than required in the recipe. 

Great to have with some saltines or cornbread! Remember, if you don't add more salt to the soup, you could compensate it with the saltines you are having with the soup!