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Beef and Noodle Soup

Source of Recipe

From "Camille Glenn's Old-Fashioned Christmas Cookbook"


Recipe Introduction

"This is a basic family soup—flavorful, nourishing, and congenial to variations. If you are fond of wild rice, use it instead of pasta. Then add some wild mushrooms, dried or fresh. A touch of marjoram in the final heating is delicious—mushrooms love marjoram."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 3 ½ to 4 pounds short ribs, brisket, rump, or oxtails, cut into ¼-pound pieces
â—¦ 5 quarts cold water
â—¦ 2 medium onions, peeled and left whole
â—¦ 5 ribs celery
â—¦ 2 or 3 carrots
â—¦ 3 imported bay leaves
â—¦ 1 teaspoon dried thyme
â—¦ ½ teaspoon dried sweet marjoram
â—¦ 8 to 10 fresh parsley stems, tied in a bunch with string
â—¦ 6 to 8 peppercorns
â—¦ 1 ¼ cups peeled and chopped onions
â—¦ ¼ pound homemade fresh noodles or dried pasta, such as spaghetti or linguine (broken into smaller pieces) or fusilli
â—¦ ½ large green bell pepper, chopped
â—¦ ½ large red bell pepper, chopped
â—¦ 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
â—¦ Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste


Recipe

Place the short ribs and water in a large soup pot and bring to a low boil. Add the two whole onions, celery, carrots, bay leaves, thyme, sweet marjoram, parsley stems, and peppercorns. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours, adding more water if necessary to maintain the same level. Don't use a cover, but watch the soup carefully. Regularly skim off the scum that rises to the surface. Let the stock cool and then refrigerate it, covered, overnight.

The next day, skim the congealed fat off the surface of the stock and discard the fat along with the vegetables. Remove the meat from the bones, discarding all fat, and chop the meat into small pieces. Set it aside.

Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large saucepan. Add the chopped onions and bring to a boil. Simmer until the onions are almost tender, about 10 minutes. Then add the noodles and bell peppers and simmer until the noodles are tender, 5 minutes for fresh, 10 or so for dried (taste a noodle to check if it's done).

Add the reserved chopped beef and chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. Bring the soup back to a boil.

Serve the soup, piping hot, in large soup plates.

Serves 6



• Variation: Beef, Mushroom, and Noodle Soup
Remove the stems from ¼ to ½ pound fresh mushrooms and add the stems to the stock along with the onions, carrots, and celery in step 1. Omit the bell peppers in step 3. Slice the mushroom caps, sauté them in butter, and add them to the soup when you add the noodles.