Kitchen Jam

Image by Industriarts via Flickr

Last Monday I picked up a cup of Steak House Soup from a local deli – The Brooklyn Pickle. I was expecting in that bowl to find the tastes I love when I order a steak dinner – sweet-hot caramelized onions, earthy mushrooms, garlic and beef accented with a little tang of steak sauce.

But although it was tasty, the soup’s combination of diced tomatoes, whole corn and potato chunks with a twist of beef shreds was a lot more like beef stew than a steak dinner.

So today I made my version of steak house soup – aiming for that steak dinner in a bowl. It was fast, it was simple and I think I hit exactly the tastes I wanted.

Steak House Soup

1 large red onion (about 1 heaping cup of thin slices)
1 8-oz. package of sliced mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon buttter
1 1/2 lbs. top sirloin or bottom round, diced into bite-sized pieces
8-10 sprigs of thyme, about 4 inches long
4 cups beef stock
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

• Heat the butter and oil in 6 qt or larger stockpot.
• Slice the onion into thin slices and chop the sliced mushrooms and garlic. Add the onion, mushrooms and garlic to the heated oils and saute until the onions are soft.
• Add in the cubed beef, cumin, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and saute the beef until the meet is browned on all sides.
• Pour the beef broth over all and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for one hour or until the beef cubes are tender.
• Check the seasonings and serve.

Makes 6-8 one cup servings of soup.