February 1: Chuck and Stout Soup

Today's recipe got a late start, so it wasn't actually ready until 10:00 at night. Tomorrow's recipe is a dessert, so we can eat this one for lunch and probably dinner tomorrow. I actually made yesterday's recipe this morning, so go here to see the cauliflower curry. It wasn't that great, and DH likes comfort foods on Fridays, so we ordered pizza tonight. I'm not sure what I'll do with the cauliflower curry... maybe eat it for lunches next week.

Anyway, here is how I made the Chuck and Stout Soup. I gathered up the ingredients and chopped the veggies:

I cubed three pounds of chuck roast and browned it in olive oil in batches in a large skillet:

Meanwhile I reduced 2 quarts of stock by half in a large saucepan:

In the crockpot I put the browned chuck, 3 sliced onions, 3 diced stalks of celery, 6 diced carrots, 4 minced cloves of garlic, 2 packages of thinly sliced cremini mushrooms, a powder-fine processed package of dried porcini mushrooms, 4 sprigs of fresh thyme, and a bottle of stout beer. Then I poured the reduced stock over top:

I cooked it for 6 hours on high, then stirred it up:

I served it with a sprig of parsley:

I took a small portion of it for a midnight snack. I really liked it. It took a long time to prepare it, what with the browning of the meat, the reduction of the sauce, and the chopping of so many vegetables. But it is definitely worth the effort. I think the mushrooms add a sort of richness to the broth. That and the stout. It's very good.

There is a note about grinding the dried mushrooms: "A coffee grinder works best for processing dried mushrooms, but a food processor or blender can also be used." I do not have a coffee grinder, so I used a food processor. It didn't work, and in fact, it almost ruined the motor. So I dumped it in the blender, and that worked much better.