Hearty Beefy Hunter's Soup

Soup has always been a favorite of mine.  It's always been big in our family.  Growing up my mom was the cook in our family and she made dinner each and every night.  Except for weekends.  Weekends were up to my dad and looking back, I absolutely loved it.  We could always count on our little home smelling incredible by noon.  He took his Sunday cooking pretty seriously, with the kind of meals that would take a good portion of the day to make. His favorite was soup.  I would pull a chair up to the counter or stove when I was little (and then spent a lot of time looking over his shoulder when I got older) and I would watch him cover the meat with water, throw in some seasonings, bouillon and finely chopped veggies and let it simmer, simmer, simmer... all day long.  His final step would always be throwing in some super fine egg noodles and to this day REFUSES to make it with wide egg noodles. Now that I'm grown, I totally get it.  We all have our habits and our ways when it comes to cooking, especially if/when it reminds us of growing up. (Now I'm one as well, who refuses the wide noodles. Go figure!)
While I am completely in love with the soup my dad makes, I usually save that recipe and make a HUGE batch to freeze in individual portions.  It's perfection for when one of us are sick and need some good, healthy, broth-y home made chicken or beef soup.
I'd like to share a recipe that's just as incredible when it comes to taste and packed with big chunks of beef and vegetables.  It's full of flavor and best served with a warm, crusty, fresh-out-of-the-oven baguette.  This soup takes a few hours (which is a far cry from the 6-7 hours it takes to make the soup we would enjoy growing up) and it's worth every bit of time put into it.  It can be made ahead and tastes wonderful the following day, or even a few days after.  It can also be completely cooled and then frozen in individual portions.
I like to make this during the day while my husband is at work, the oldest is at school and I can enlist my youngest one to help me toss in veggies and shake the bag to coat the beef in seasoned flour.  It's one of my favorites to make on nights my Handsome Man is hunting close to home because I can just let it sit on the stove on low until he gets in. What's better than coming inside on a cool night to a warm baguette and dinner on the stove?  Yum!

So, get out your best soup pot and get started!

Hearty Beefy Hunter's Soup

*1-1.5 lbs chuck roast cut into chunks

*1/4 cup flour

*1 tsp paprika

*1 tsp pepper

*2 tsp salt

*1/2 tsp dried Italian seasoning

*1 bay leaf

*2 Tbls worchestershire sauce

*2 Tbls olive oil

*2 Tbls butter

*1 shallot, minced

*3 garlic cloves, minced

*1/2 red onion, sliced

*1/2 sweet yellow onion, sliced

*2 cups baby carrots, cut in half

*3-4 celery stalks, chopped

*3/4 lb small potatoes, quartered or cut into bit sized pieces (I used baby blondes)

*1 cup cabernet sauvignon

*4 cups beef broth

Combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika in a bag and mix.  Put chunks of beef into the bag and shake to coat. Grab a big soup pot and heat up one tablespoon of oil with one tablespoon of butter on medium high heat.  Carefully add beef in a single layer to brown.  Be careful not to crowd. You may need to do the beef in two or three batches.  Be careful not to over cook... you just want to brown the beef.

Remove the beef from the pot and set aside.  Turn heat to medium and heat up the last tablespoon of butter and oil, and then throw in the shallot and garlic. Let that go for a minute and add the celery, onion and carrots. Let that go for a bit until garlic and shallots are cooked.  Remove the veggies from the pot.  Add the cup of wine and deglaze pan by taking a spatula or soon and scraping all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  That's going to give you some great flavor!  Simmer the wine until it's reduced by about half.  Add back your meat, veggies and then add the potatoes.  Pour in the broth, worchestershire, bay leaf and Italian seasoning.  Let simmer for about 1-1.5 hours or so, or until carrots and potatoes are tender.

Grab a chunk of baguette and start dunking!

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