Recipe #2: Zesty Hamburger Soup

This week’s new meal is a yummy soup recipe I found online. With the winter weather still hanging around, what better way to warm up from a chilly walk home from the subway (or the car to your front door) then a big helping of beefy/noodle-y goodness in a bowl? I also love one pot meals, and soup is prefect for that. To help with the prep time, I made this soup Sunday night while prepping my other meal, and then just simply reheated when I got home from work. The recipe makes plenty, too, so leftovers were readily available for lunch or another dinner. I’m not sure how the pasta would hold up if you froze it, though.

A few notes on this one. The original recipe included potatoes, but I felt the pasta was enough carbs for one meal. And I included a whole can of pickled jalapenos, finely diced (about 4 – 6 full peppers), but I removed the seeds, which seemed to minimize the amount of heat in the soup (hence why I chose to add red pepper flakes after tasting). Including the seeds would add more than enough heat for those of you who can handle it. Next time round, I might follow there suggestion with just a few slices of jalapeno.

While cooking this up, I soon realized that this is very similar to a beef stew I make, but in my version I opt for potatoes instead of pasta. I’m still classifying this as a new recipe, though. Next time around I might vary the recipe a bit and add a spicy chorizo sausage, casing removed, as I like to do with my spaghetti sauce, but for my first attempt, I think it’s good to stick to the recipe (sort of).

Trying out these new recipes is proving to have a couple of positive outcomes. It's introducing me to new ideas; it's teaching me new cooking techniques;  and its giving us some variety in our meals. Already I’m learning a lot about flavour combinations and experimenting with spices (if only I had a pantry like Michael Smith...).

INGREDIENTS

1 pound ground beef

2 cups sliced celery

1 cup chopped onion

1-2 tsp red chili flakes (optional)

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 box of beef broth

1-1/2 cups uncooked small shell pasta

4 pickled jalapeno slices (seeds removed, if preferred)

2 cans (10 ounces each) diced tomatoes

DIRECTIONS

COMBINE in a Dutch oven or large pot, the beef, celery and onion and cook over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in the water, pasta and jalapeno.

BRING to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until pasta is tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Cook and stir until heated through.

This recipe easily serves 4 -6 people.