A variation of Caldo de Res with potato
Any cut of beef will work in a caldo, however traditional caldo is made with tougher sorts. Around here, here being our house, the most coveted piece of protein is the marrow. So, buy yourself some leg slices and go at it.
You will also need some veggies. Again most regular veggies will do, so you can pick and choose what you like or use what you have. Beets might not be a good choice though. I had two freezer bags filled with 1/3 each onion, celery, and carrot – aka mirepoix, but in a nice size dice. When the core aromatics are on sale, stock up, dice and freeze. For this reason I wish we had one of those vacuum sealers so it would last a bit longer in the freezer.
If you are totally opposed to MSG, you can replace the beef flavoured soup mix with homemade beef stock. I don’t make enough beef to have bones for stock, so I rely on my cupboard for this part of the recipe.
- 1/4 pound of beef per person, I used leg to get marrow
- onion, diced
- celery, diced
- carrot, diced
- fresh parsley, chopped
- fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite size pieces
- 1/4 cup white wine
- Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- beef soup flavouring (like XO or Knorr)
- 8 cups water
- Roma tomatoes, quartered
Start with the beef, brown on all sides with salt and pepper. Then add the mirepoix and cook until the onion is translucent. Deglaze with the wine and scrape up the goodies from the surface of the pot. Add salt, a good pinch of it (@mynakedbokkie see I do the same, just add a little at a time), the beef soup stuff and the water. Toss in the green beans. Bring it to a boil then reduce to a simmer, let it cook covered until the beans are tender (about 15 minutes). The last, well second to last thing to do is taste the broth and check if you want more salt. I tend to keep the salt level as minimal as possible, you can always finnish your serving with sea salt if you like. The tomatoes are the last ones to join the party, turn down the heat to low and cover.
midnitechef 
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