Yummy Beef Soup

I like beef and I especially like beef from our seller at the Oak Park farmer's market.  Every fall, we stock up on the last day of the market so that we have healthier and more responsibly grown beef throughout the winter.  This year, we tried a new cut--beef shank.  We got two.  The first I made into a more traditional Western pot roast-like meal cooked low and slow in red wine and stock with mirepoix.  But truthfully?  Meh.  Dan loved it, but I won't cook it that way again. There's a dusty taste to cheaper beef cuts prepared in that way that I don't like and everything in the dish ends up tasting like beef. . . as it turns out, I don't like beef that much. 

So, on my second try, I thought, "Let's try to keep the yummy beef, but this time, let's let everything else still taste like itself," and enter my attempt at an Asian-inspired soup.  I made an Asian broth of ginger, carrots, onion and beef--and then used the broth and the beef (now falling off the bone), plus new veggies to make a super tasty soup that satisfied on a col winter's night.  Here's how. . . 

Amy's Asian Flavors Beef Soup 

(Serves 2 with large entree servings)

Hands on time: 30 minutes  Total Cooking Time: 5 hours

• 1 lb. beef shank
• 6 in. long ginger root--skinned and then cut into inch long chunks
• 1 med. yellow onion--peeled and quartered
• 5 large carrots--peeled; cut two carrots into big chunks and dice the other two carrots
• 1 c. head napa cabbage (bok choy might also be good)--rough chop
• 1 sm. bunch green onions--dice up all of it right down to the roots
• 1 c. peas--frozen or fresh
• salt and honey to taste
• optional hot pepper

Make the Soup Base
In a 3.5 quart dutch oven, toss in 4 of the ginger root pieces, the yellow onion, the two chunk-cut carrots, then fill pot 2/3rds full with water.  Put over high heat on the stove and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add the beef shank (the water should come to within an inch of the top of the pot.  Bring water back to a boil and then immediately turn heat down to medium low, put the top on and simmer for a minimum of 4.5 hours.

Finish the soup
Using a slotted spoon, remove the beef shank (which should be falling off the bone) and set aside.  Remove the rest of the big chunks of vegetables and dispose of them.  Then strain stock into a bowl through a fine strainer lined with a cheese cloth to take out all of the tiny bits of impurities.  You should be left with a pretty, clear yellow broth that smells delicious.

Put the broth back on the stove and season to suit your taste.  I am a fan--especially with a dusky meat like beef or pork--of a slightly sweet broth and so I use the honey liberally and then throw in a tiny dash of cayenne pepper.  Bring the soup back to a boil, throw in the diced carrots, and the rest of the ginger (the ginger shouldn't be eaten, it's just to add an additional fresher ginger taste in the close).  Put the top back on, reduce the heat to medium.  Cook for ten minutes and then add peas and cook for another 5 minutes.

While the carrots and peas cook, shred the beef into bite-sized chunks (be careful, it might still be hot) and evenly divide between two big soup bowls.  Also divide cabbage and and green onions between two bowls (make sure you evenly divide the white and green parts of the onions between bowls).  Ladle two spoonfuls of hot soup over the ingredients in the bowls to warm them up and gently cook the cabbage and onions.

In two minutes, Ladle the rest of the soup (dividing carrots and peas evenly) into the two bowls.

And then enjoy.  This is ridiculously good. . . especially on a cold winter's day.