Vegetable Beef Soup .. From Scratch

This recipe takes some time but it is totally worth it. Especially for those of us who don't have good beef stock for sale in our shopping centers (or for those of us who can't afford it). After trying 7-10 recipes for Beef Stock and/or Beef Soup, I finally came up with this flavorful, hearty, and inexpensive recipe

The recipe takes 3-3.5h start to finish but is very hands off. (About 30 minutes of chopping and stirring) .  I usually start it the night before we are going to eat it, stopping just after the broth is finished then re-start for dinner-time.

I recommend that the whole instructable be read start to finish before starting with Step 1. 

Recipe for Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup
Serves 6 as a main course, 8-10 as a lunch or side dish
Freezes well and doubles easily

2T Olive Oil
1# Stew beef (or cheap roast cut into large chunks)
1/3# Marrow bones
1 onion, halved, skin on
3/4 cup dry red wine (divided)
2 Bay leaves
1T peppercorns
--------Stop here if just making stock-----------------
1T Olive oil
1.5 cups onions, chopped
2T  tomato paste
1-2t garlic, pressed (to taste)
2c chicken broth (feel free to use a bouillon cube)
2c carrots, chopped
1.5c celery, chopped
3/4# potatoes, peeled and chopped to 1/4"cubes
        (You can easily substitute 1/2c of cooked barley for the potatoes. This is also yummy)
Salt and pepper to taste

A note on ingredients: This is a soup and will probably never be recreated EXACTLY as written. That said, I especially like to use seasonal vegetables. So if adding another vegetable, just reduce the amount of a comparable vegetable. Eg:  1/4# parsnips for 1/4# potatoes... etc...

Heat the oil to smoking and add beef bones, beef, and onion. The goal here is to sear the outsides and bring out flavor. Do not crowd the pan as this will just create too much steam. We want to sear, not steam the meat. Depending on the size of the dutch oven, this step may need to be done in batches.

Cook until browned on all sides and remove from pan. (I place them on the inverted pan cover so I don't have to wash anything else...)

Add 1/4c of wine to empty pan and scrape off all the yummy browned bits.
Let wine reduce for about 2 minutes.
Put beef, bones, and onion back into the pot. Cover, and reduce heat to low.

"Sweat" the beef for about 20 minutes or until there is about 1/2 cup of rich brown liquid in the pot. 

While beef is sweating, chop the carrots, onions, and celery.

I don't throw away the remnants. I add them to the stock for more flavor. This is optional, however.

Once you have 1/2c or so of nice brown juice in the pan, add 4c of water, bay leaves, and any vegetable remnants.  Cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 1.5h. (Until beef is tender)

Pass the stock through a strainer. Reserve the stock and the beef. Discard bones, onion, vegetable remnants, and bay leaf.

Heat 1T oil in the now empty soup pot and sautée chopped onions.


Cook onions, stirring frequently, until tender (~8 minutes) Meanwhile, shred beef.

Add 1/2 cup of red wine to onions and scrape bottom well. Simmer wine 1 minute
Add garlic and tomato paste and cook 30s
Add beef stock, chicken broth, shredded beef, carrots, and celery. Cover, and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to low and simmer until veggies are almost tender (~20 minutes)

While the vegetables are simmering, chop the potatoes.

When veggies are almost tender, add potatoes and cook another 15m.

Season with salt and pepper and serve with a nice crusty bread and a green salad. YUM!!!