Saturday, January 9, 2010

Hatch Chili, Beef & Quinoa Soup

This soup is my first attempt at cooking with quinoa.
Quinoa is a grain that is safe for people that need to avoid gluten. It tastes slightly nutty and adds a lot of texture to this soup. Having said that the texture is something that I will need to get used to in this soup.
The soup is slightly spicy but the level of spice really depends on your Hatch Chili Peppers. The ones I used are the ones we roasted here at home!

3 lbs lean beef, cut into small cubes
2 cups onions, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrot, chopped
2 tbs garlic, chopped
1 cup roasted Hatch Chili peppers, chopped
2 tbs parsley, dried
2 tbs cilantro, dried
12 cups beef broth
1 cup quinoa
1 28 oz can petite diced tomatoes
3 tbs corn starch
salt & pepper to taste

In an 8 quart soup pot begin to cook the beef, celery, onions, carrots, garlic, parsley, and cilantro.
Add the roasted hatch chili, beef broth and enough water to fill the pot about 3/4 of the way.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
Simmer covered for about 2 hours or until the beef is very tender.
Bring back to a boil and add the quinoa.
Reduce heat to a simmer.
Simmer covered for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Add the diced tomatoes and simmer covered for 30 minutes to an hour.
Mix the corn starch with water to form a slurry.
Add enough water to the soup pot to have a total volume of approximately 30 cups (7 1/2 quarts) and bring to a boil.
Add the corn starch slurry to the soup and cook for a few minutes.
This will not really thicken the soup too much but it adds a lot to the consistency.
Taste and season with salt and pepper as desired.

8 comments:

  1. Hi Steph, the soup looks wonderful. I haven't cooked with quinoa either. In fact I looked at some tonight in the grocery store, a bit too pricey for me right now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is pricy at the regular grocery store. I got it out of the bulk bin either at Whole Foods or the local Co Op. It was fairly cheap that way!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a recipe that uses quinoa that I've been interested in trying. When you say pricey, what do you mean? We have a Whole Foods nearby and I might take a special trip for it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think it was less than $4 a pound in the bulk section.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's doable. But I think the Jan 20 dude disagrees.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have been getting a lot of weird comments lately on this blog? Weird!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wanted to let you know that Trader Joes sells Quinoa too and its probably cheaper than Whole foods.
    I'm always looking for wheat- free recipes. I was searching quinoa soup and your blog popped up!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the tip about Trader Joes but we don't have one of those anywhere near where I live. As it is Whole Foods is over 2 hours away!

    ReplyDelete

I love getting comments so please let me know what you think!