So it all began when I braised some ground beef to make vegetable soup but had to stop to go get the kids from my mom's house. So I finished off the ground beef and stored it in the fridge for the next day to do the soup. I took a few nibbles and it was yum yum. Rather than make vegetable soup I was really craving Potato soup or Shepard Pie. It got me thinking what if I combined the two flavors into one soup. And so it begins. Will this be a flop or a winner. I must say it is a WINNER! Here's what I did.
Take a pound of ground beef and braise in beef stock. For those who don't know how to braise do the following. You can use water or stock I prefer stock because it gives more flavor. In your skillet sprinkle salt and pepper to your liking. Crumple ground beef into skillet and cook on medium heat. Add in beef stock to just covering the ground beef. Stir frequently to avoid large clumps. Cook until all stock is evaporated. Remove and drain ground beef. That all took place last night so I don't have photo.
Next is the vegetable prep and could take place while the ground beef is braising. Take 3 leeks, clean & slice and set aside. Not familiar with leeks? They are in the family of onions I think. Look like an overgrown green onion. They are easy to clean. Cut off root tips and green stalk portion.
Then slice in half lengthwise.
To clean them you can do one of two things. Either hold under running water bending the stalks back for the water to run through each layer or you can slice and rinse in a bowl.
Next on the list is what is known as mirepoix. (Mirepoix is a simple combination of onion, carrot and celery that is used in nearly every traditional French stew and many other dishes.) I often don't use measurements and just eye stuff so please excuse the vagueness. I used a small/medium sweet yellow onion and diced it. Then 2 celery stalks cleaned and diced. Then had 1 large carrot cleaned, peeled and diced. Basically I use 1 part onion, 1/2 part carrot, 1/2 part celery. Be sure to dice everything the same size so it will cook uniformly.
Then add 2 spoons of diced garlic (I keep diced garlic in the fridge because I use it in practically everything.) I would say that this would equal about 3-5 cloves of garlic diced if you were dicing it yourself.
All of this was just set aside in a large bowl together while I continued on. This next part got me excited. Mushrooms are one of my new favorites. And mushrooms in butter are even more delish. I took one small container of precut/prewashed baby portabello mushrooms and fried them in butter til they are nice and crispy. You only really need about half of that but like I said they are a new favorite so I prepared extra so I could nibble on them and still have enough for the soup. I used about 3/4 stick of unsalted butter. The trick to mushrooms is not to crowd them. I again used an equal portion of diced mushrooms to that of the carrots & celery.
In a separate bowl peel, clean and cube around 2 lb potatoes. I like to use either a yellow or red potato but I am sure an Idaho potato would work well too. I tend to dice my potatoes in about 1/2" cubes. They cook faster.
One last final prep thing and then it begins. Take 4-6 slices of bacon and dice.
So take a large stock pot and place on medium heat. Melt 1/2 stick of butter add veggies and cook until softened. Add potatoes & ground beef. Cover with chicken stock. This took 2 cartons of stock for me. Season to taste. I used salt & pepper. Once the potatoes are soft. Add 1 can of cream of mushroom and 1 can of cream of celery. Then pour 1 can of milk. Stir. Add 2 TBS Bisto, 1 TBS cornstarch. Simmer on pot til desired thickness.
And there you have it "Moresome Soup" because you just want to come back for more.
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