Beef and Vegetable Soup plus a Giveaway Winners announced

First the giveaway. I've discovered this really package of tomato paste that is great for those recipes that only call for a teaspoon or tablespoon of tomato paste. You just store in the fridge after opening and its good for a few months. No more opening a can of tomato paste and then forgetting to use the rest of the can. This is made by Amore products and has become a favorite of mine. I hope you'll enjoy using it too. Just leave a comment if you'd like a chance to win one of two packages. If your a follower leave two comments for an extra chance and if your not a follower yet become one and let me know in a separate comment for two chances to win. You have until Friday at 5pm (MST) to enter and winners will be announced Saturday.
Winners are:

he winners of the tomato paste tubes:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

13 6 

Timestamp: 2009-10-24 15:18:57 UTC

Number 6 is Frieda

Number 13 is Charmed

If you'd email your address at n_baron@msn.com I'll get them in the mail next week.

Now on to the soup. This had great flavor and was a favorite amongst everyone in our house. The depth of flavor was unbelievable. This is not a quick soup dish but not as long as some soup recipes. Next time I plan on adding some barely to the soup as I think that would really add to the dish.

Beef and Vegetable Soup
Cooks Country Dec./Jan. 2006

Broth
3 pounds beef blade steaks
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon tomato paste
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
4 cups low sodium beef broth
2 cups water
1 garlic head, top third cut off and discarded, loose outer skins removed
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

Soup
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch half moons
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
salt and pepper
chopped fresh parsley

For the broth
Season blade steaks with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in dutch oven over medium high heat until shimmering. Add half of steaks and cook until well browned on both sides, about 8 minutes. Set steaks aside on plate. Repeat with remaining tablespoon oil and steaks.

Pour fat from dutch oven and return to medium high heat. Add tomato paste and cook, mashing paste with wooden spoon for 30 seconds. Add chicken broth, beef broth, and water, and scrape browned bits from bottom of pot with wooden spoon. Return steaks and any accumulated juices to pot. Add garlic, bay leaves, and thyme and bring to a simmer, using a wide, shallow spoon to skim off foam or fat that rises to surface. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gently until meat is tender, about 2 hours.

Transfer steaks and garlic head to a rimmed plate to cool. Once cool enough to handle shred meat into bite sized pieces, discarding any fat. Using tongs, squeeze garlic cloves into small bowl. Mash with fork until paste forms. Pour broth through fine-mesh strainer. Return shredded beef and garlic paste to broth. Broth can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for 2 months.

For the Soup
Melt butter in clean dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and carrots and cook until onion is softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and carrots. Bring to simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

To serve, adjust servings with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parsley.

You can add other veggies or replace the veggies listed with others. Just adjust cooking times as needed.