It’s a new year.
Time for change.
For someone who struggles with change as much as me, you wouldn’t think it would be such a constant in my life.
Sometimes by design, mostly not.
I’ve walked through my life, one foot in front of the other, knowing my journey would continue.
For the first time in my life, my “knowing” doesn’t have the same confidence. Parents of friends are starting to pass on and my contemporaries are falling victim to disease. Life has become too short.
Life’s too short. A friend of mine said that to me a couple of months ago. She died this week. We wasted time not speaking to each other over a misunderstanding.
I put things off. I wait.
No more…
A hard lesson.
It’s clean-up left-overs time at our house. Precious bits of this and that, wrapped well and frozen, til now. I served prime rib for Christmas dinner this year. The left-overs went into this hearty old-fashioned beef and vegetable soup. Dressing it up with a garnish of creamed horseradish gives it a nice zip. Serve it with a salty blue cheese or an old cheddar and lots of crusty baguette and you’ve got a perfect winter supper. If you don’t finish the pot, you can refrigerate it for up to a week or freeze it up to two months. Just make sure it’s well sealed.
Left-Over Prime Rib and Chunky Vegetable Soup with Horseradish Cream
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic gloves, minced
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
½ turnip, peeled and cubed
1 – 28 ounce can diced plum tomatoes with juices
¼ green cabbage, outer leaves removed then thinly sliced
4 cups commercial beef broth – if you have homemade, use it!
1 cup dry white wine
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 lb. left over roasted prime rib roast meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes – fat removed.
3 cups leftover beef gravy
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Creamed horseradish and chopped fresh parsley for garnish
THE STEPS
- Heat oil in heavy large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
- Add onion, garlic, celery, turnip and carrots – sauté 15 minutes.
- Stir in wine and beef stock
- Add cabbage and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
- Add gravy, bay leaves, rosemary and beef.
- Simmer for 15 minutes
- Add more beef stock to reach your desired thickness. It will depend on how thick your gravy was…
- At this point, taste your soup to determine seasoning.
- Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with a drizzle of horseradish
- Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
THE LOVE: Like all soups and stews, this one improves with a day in the fridge! Reheat slowly over medium low.
one year ago: Mom’s butter tarts
two years ago: meatloaf for a chef
Thanks for reading.
