Challenge Meal #9 is Beef Bone Soup, in honor of the weather, my penchant for homemade soup, and the way the ingredients from the Saturday market at the Norfield Grange in Weston just fell together.
It turns out that stock made from bones is exceptionally nutritious. According to Sally Fallon:
Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons—stuff like chondroitin sulfates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.
This meal was sourced almost entirely from the market:
- onions and potatoes from Daffodil Hill Growers
- carrots from Gazy Brothers Farm
- beef shanks from Eaglewood Farms
- thyme from my garden
- sea salt from RI
- olive oil from away
There are several recipes out there and I borrowed heavily from this one. I rubbed the beef shanks with olive oil and roasted them for 45 minutes in a 400°F oven.
I put the roasted shanks in a big pot with the vegetables, covered them with water, and added seasonings. I let it simmer for about eight hours. (Several recipes recommend between one to four tablespoons of vinegar and three to 48 hours of simmering to extract every last nutrient.) I refrigerated it over night, skimmed the fat the next day, and reheated it, and strained it. I cut new vegetables and cooked them in the stock.
Bonus: Don’t forget to enjoy that marrow on a piece of crusty Italian or French bread. Delicious and nutritious.
Next time, I will make more. Much more.
If you don’t want to make your own soup, Bistro Du Soliel of New Caanon is also a vendor at this market and they have fabulous soups.
Note: Apologies for the pictures. My camera is otherwise occupied and I used the phone for these. Clearly, a phone is not a camera.
This weekend, we braised an oxtail in tomatoes, onions, garlic, bay, salt and pepper. The meat came off the bone and was returned to the sauce to dress pasta. The bones will go into my next batch of chicken broth. They don’t impart a beef-y flavor to the broth, but it does make the whole thing more substantial.