Red Soup

Red Soup is a family recipe; my Mom faithfully made her version of it every Monday for dinner, except when we were on vacation, for over 65 years.  Imagine that!  I’ve enhanced my Mom’s very basic recipe and updated it for today’s home cook.  Red Soup is delicious and nourishing on its own or with the addition of soup pasta such as orzo, tubettini, acini de pepe or even every kid’s favorite, alphabet letters.  Mom was fond of starting a dinner of Red Soup with an appetizer of Breaded Cauliflower. This recipe makes a large amount of Red Soup, enough to enjoy for dinner and pack-up portions for future lunches and dinners too.

Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes, Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes. Serves: 10 – 16.

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Ingredients:

• 3 to 3 ½ lbs. boneless Beef Chuck Roast, cut into 5 or 6 pieces
• ¼ cup Cooking Oil (recommend Olive/Canola Oil blend)
• 2 cups Onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 cups Carrots, washed, trimmed and sliced
• 3 cups Celery, washed, trimmed and sliced
• 2 Tb minced Garlic
• 2 Red Peppers, washed, trimmed, seeded and diced
• ½ Tb coarse Sea Salt
• ½ Tb Sweet Paprika
• ½ Tb Smoked Paprika
• ½ Tb Hot Smoked Paprika
• 1 tsp Crushed Red Pepper flakes
• 1 tsp Aleppo Pepper flakes
• 1 tsp Black Peppercorns
• ½ tb dried Oregano leaves
• ½ tb dried Thyme leaves
• ½ tb dried Basil leaves
• 3 Bay Leaves, preferably fresh
• 2 Tb Red Wine Vinegar
• ½ cup Soy Sauce
• ½ cup dry Red Wine
• 4 Tb Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 6-oz can Tomato Paste
• 2 lbs. Frozen Vegetables mix (peas/carrots/corn, etc.)
• 20 cups Water plus additional to top up as the soup cooks

Preparation:

1. Add the cooking oil to a 12-quart stock pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add the pieces of beef chuck roast in a single layer and brown the beef on all sides in the uncovered stock pot.
3. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic to the stock pot, mix in with the beef, cover and cook until the vegetables begin to soften, about 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Combine the seasonings (sea salt through bay leaves) in a bowl, then sprinkle over the beef and vegetables in the stock pot; cover and continue to cook for another minute or two.
5. Add the red wine vinegar, soy sauce, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, water and tomato paste to the stock pot and stir. Cover and raise the heat to high to bring the soup to a boil.
6. Once the soup is boiling, add the frozen vegetables to the soup and stir. Cover and bring the soup back to a boil
7. Once the soup is boiling again, lower the heat to medium and cook at a rolling boil for 2 hours; top up with additional water as needed due to evaporation.
8. Using long tongs, remove the beef pieces from the soup, place in a large bowl to cool. Turn off the heat on the soup.
9. When the beef has cooled down sufficiently to be handled, break it apart into small pieces using your hands and return to the soup.
10. Prior to serving, bring the soup to a simmer and remove the bay leaves. If serving with pasta, cook the pasta, drain it and portion it into bowls.  Ladle Red Soup into bowls and serve, seasoning the soup with grated Parmigiano Reggiano and Romano cheeses at the table.
11. Ladle the remaining soup into containers and refrigerate or freeze for future use.