I found this recipe in one of my grandma’s cook books. You see, our Dutch food is the pretty straight-forward, no-nonsense and nourishing type of food. No light summer dishes or use of exotic spices.

I love our Dutch food, but there’s a time and place for everything, so when autumn sets in that’s when I install myself on the couch with a huge pile of Dutch cook books and a cup of tea and try to find some new ideas to go into my meal rotation. I’m a compulsive meal planner.

I just didn’t expect an Austrian recipe in there. Not sure why: I vaguely remembered how she loved Austria and vacationed there at least once a year. But somehow this recipe managed to go unnoticed.

Such a shame because having made it for the first time I can assure you: this is an amazing soup. Almost in a stew kind of way. Huge chunks of beef and potato in a fragrant bouillon.

What’s not to love?

 
Ingredients:

1 pound stewing beef
1 beef shin (or a soup bone)
1 pound potatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 red bell pepper
2 large onions
1 small can tomato paste
1 can diced tomatoes (14oz)
1/2 to 1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp oregano (or marjoram)
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp sweet paprika powder
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 tsp white vinegar
6 cups of water
2 bay leaves
salt & pepper

Directions:

Cube the beef. I also use a beef shin. You can replace it with a soup bone. I never make soup without some sort of soup bone.

Mince the onions, bell pepper and peel and cube the potatoes. Grate the garlic.

Heat a few drops of oil and lightly sauté the onions and pepper. Nothing major, just a minute or 2. Add the garlic and give it another minute.

Stir in the tomato paste and give it some time to sweeten up.

In with the caraway seeds, thyme, dried chili flakes and sweet paprika powder.

 
I used the sweet Hungarian paprika powder for this. It’s also available in a hot powdered version. Just look for sweet paprika powder, not the regular kind.
 

The original recipe called for marjoram and I didn’t have any. I replaced it with oregano. It worked. End of story.

Check out the water shot! Add the water and bouillon cubes.

 
tip: health-food stores always carry a large selection of MSG-free bouillon cubes. At least here they do.
 

Add the meat. And again, the bone/marrow adds so much flavor and richness to the soup.

Add a pinch of black pepper, the vinegar and stir in the potatoes.

 
I added my potatoes at the start so that they’d slowly cook slightly apart and thicken the soup. You can also add them later.
 

In with the can of diced tomatoes.

And the bay leaves, bring the soup to a boil and simmer it over low heat for 2 and a half hours.

It smelled SO fabulous.

Remove the beef shin and bone, pick the meat apart and put it back in with the soup.

 
Discard the bay leaves and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish the soup with parsley and a scoop of sour cream, if you like.
 

Serve this stick-to-your ribs kind of soup with lots of crusty bread.

 
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