Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sirloin

It's been a soup kind of month for me. I've been craving different kinds of soup. I've tried a recipe similar to this in the past that I found on the internet, however it was so salty it wasn't very edible. However, I wasn't giving up. I was craving a beefy asparagus and rice soup. So, I had to modify a couple different recipes I found and created the following which turned out quite well. The bonus is that it is not that salty at all.

Asparagus-Rice Soup with Sirloin...the recipe

4 tablespoons of olive oil (a good flavored olive oil similar to what you'd use for bread dipping)
1 large white onion diced
1 1/2 stalks of celery diced
1 clove of garlic minced
4 cups of beef stock (I used 4 beef bouillon cubes with 4 cups of boiling water)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown rice
4 ounce sirloin steak cubed
8 ounces of thin asparagus spears
Salt and pepper
Fresh chopped parsley

Wash and dry all the produce and prep as follows to speed up the cooking process.

Mince the garlic.

Dice the onions and celery.

Cut off the hard ends of the asparagus (however don't throw them out, freeze them in a plastic baggie and use them to make vegetable broth). Then slice them diagonally. 

 

Cube the sirloin steak (mine came out more like rectangles and that's okay, it doesn't affect the flavor).

Add 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a 4 quart sauce pan and heat on medium to low heat.

Once the oil is heated, add the onions, celery and garlic. Salt to taste.

Saute for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the onions are translucent. Be sure to stir regularly to prevent the vegetables from browning.

Add the beef stock.

Add the rice.

Stir well and bring to boil. Once it is boiling, cover, lower the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, melt 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter in a skillet pan on medium to low heat.

Once melted, add the sirloin and brown on all sides for 4 minutes. It's okay if the meat is still a little pink at the end of the 4 minutes, the steak will be thoroughly cooked when the recipe is complete.

Once the steak is browned, add the asparagus. Do not drain the fat or butter. 

Stir the asparagus coating it with the butter and beef fat. Once the asparagus is coated, let it cook in the pan without stirring for 4 minutes.

After the first 4 minutes, cook for another 4 minutes stirring regularly so as to not let the asparagus get browned. Remove from heat and put to the side. Once the rice and soup mixture has simmered for 25 minutes, add the asparagus and beef mixture and stir well.

Add fresh ground black pepper to taste and salt if needed.

Simmer again for another 10-15 minutes until the asparagus is tender. Once the time is up, remove from heat, garnish with parsley and serve with saltine crackers. 

Enjoy...

Serves 4.

Lazy Golumki, Golabki, Golumpki or Galumpki. Its Good No Matter How You Spell It!

I love Polish foods. We ate a lot of it growing up. However, I have not really learned how to cook it much myself. So I'm starting with an easy recipe. Lazy Golumki... or Golabki or Galumpki. No matter how you spell it, its delicious. If you don't want to take the time to make the yummy little cabbage rolls, then this is for you.

Lazy Golumki...the recipe

1 lb hamburger
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion diced
1/2 of a head of cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup of rice
1 quart tomato juice or V8 juice
Salt and pepper to taste

First, prep the cabbage. I took off 3 or 4 leafs from the head until I got to a nice clean part of the cabbage. Cut it in half and in half again.

Cut out the center part of the cabbage. I took my knife and on a diagonal cut the heart of the cabbage out and threw it away.

On the cut side of the cabbage, slice the quartered head to make shreds of cabbage. Repeat until you have sliced both sections of cabbage. Rinse with water and set aside.

Next, dice your onion. However since I am making Lazy Golumkis, I substituted 1/2 cup of frozen diced onions instead. It isn't called Lazy Golumkis for nothing.

Warm a large skillet pan over medium heat. Add your hamburger (since my local grocery store has been having great deals on Ground Bison, I used that in my recipe). Break up the meat into small crumbles and brown it. It should take about 5-8 minutes.

Drain the fat from the meat. I put a bowl under a colander, poured the meat in the colander and let the fat drain in the bowl below.

While the meat is draining, lower the heat to medium/low. In the same pan (don't rinse out, use as is to keep any flavors or small bits of meat), melt the butter.

Add the onions and cook until they are translucent. Be careful not to brown or caramelize the onion. They will be cooking more so you just need them translucent. Please note since you didn't rinse out the pan, the onions may appear a little brown from the leftover meat which is fine. Just don't brown them.

Combine the meat with onions.

Measure a 1/2 cup of rice (I used brown rice which takes longer to cook) and stir it in with the meat and onion combination.

Pour in enough juice to cover the ingredients.

 

Mix in the cabbage.

Cook and stir occasionally. The juice will cook down so you will add more while cooking. If you run out of juice, add water until until the cabbage is tender and the rice is done. Since I used brown rice in my recipe, it took a little over an hour for this to be ready.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Since most tomato juices have salt in them already, taste your food before adding more salt.

I served my Lazy Golumki with a slice of buttered bread.

This makes about 4 servings.

Enjoy!

Risotto Style Brown Rice Pilaf

I have a weakness for rice. It is one of my favorite side dishes. I have made it so many different ways as well as experimented by taking bits and pieces of different recipes and putting them together. It is also one my favorites to make. I have been making rice pilaf for a number of years, but tonight I made it risotto style (risotto can be a time intensive dish to make but delicious, and this is my cheat for a risotto style dish).

Risotto Style Brown Rice Pilaf...the recipe

1 medium sized shallot chopped
2 cloves of garlic pressed
2 tablespoons olive oil 
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup chicken stock (the stock I used came from my sister's food blog)
1 cup white wine (I used Chablis but will also use Sauvignon Blanc)
1 cup brown rice
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 sprigs parsley chopped

First, chop your shallots.

Press two cloves of garlic.

In a 1 quart saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the shallots, garlic, salt and pepper. Sweat them in the oil on medium-low heat for a couple of minutes, just enough to soften them and release the aromatics.

Add the brown rice and mix to coat in oil.

Next, add the chicken stock, white wine and stir.

Bring this mixture to a boil.

Cover and let simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. No need to stir, just let it simmer and absorb all of the stock and wine.

Next take the one tablespoon of butter and mix. Make sure the butter is melted and the mixture looks a little creamy, this will help the cheese melt quicker in the next step.

Add in the cheese and stir until melted.

Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve.

This side dish serves about 3-4 depending on size of the portion. I love to pair this with a chicken dish.

The Variations
Now there are variations you can do.

1. If you don't want it risotto style and want more of a traditional rice pilaf, take out the butter and cheese. You can serve it at the end of the 40 minute simmer.
2. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken. Leave out the butter and cheese and you have a vegetarian side dish
3. I like to use Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon and beef stock when pairing with a beef dish.

Experiment on your own and see what great combination you can come up with and most important...enjoy!