You will need 1 ½ – 2 ½ lb’s of good stew meat or cut up some of your own freezer beef. (Depends on how much meat you want in your soup) I use stew meat, the meat cutter has included (specified by me when the steer is butchered) If I run out of stew meat, I will use some of the sirloin, round or a roast. Just make sure the meat you use has some marbling to it, this is the fat and believe me you want a little bit of fat for flavor. If there is too much fat attached, trim some of it off.
1 ½ -2 ½ lbs Stew Meat
3 t. extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced or 1 t. garlic powder
1 t. dried basil
1 t. sea salt
2 T dried parsley or fresh chopped
½ t ground black peppercorns (or to taste)
3 beef bouillon cubes (optional)
4 14 oz cans beef broth
(Or you can boil down some soup bones that your meat cutter has included)
Recipe for broth to follow
1 medium onion
3 bay leaves
3 stalks celery and some of the light leaves
4 stalks carrots
4 medium potatoes
1 can corn (or 2 ears of sweet corn blanched and cut off the cob)
1 small yellow zucchini
1 small green zucchini
Greean green beans or 2 cups fresh picked beans form the garden snapped and chopped
1 qt tomato juice (or one from the pantry that you canned last summer)
Step One:
Brown the meat in the olive oil on med heat until it starts to turn brown
Add the garlic, basil, bay leave, salt, pepper, parsley, ½ of the onion and bouillon cubes to the meat and cook on medium heat till the moisture starts to reduce. (Do not let go dry) add the broth and let the meat and seasoning cook until tender 40-60 minutes
Could be less or more time (You will need to taste test to see if the meat is getting tender)
As soon as it starts to tender:
Continue to simmer till all is tender
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