Joyful Momma Musings: Creative Beef Soup with homemade Spaetzel

I am digging in my freezer, getting ready to thaw and clean it before the holidays (A good practice to do with both fridge and freezer, to make room for goodies and leftovers), and I realized I never did use that package of beef back ribs from Angel Food Ministries. We tried Angel Food, and frankly I didn't find it helpful due to our family size and what we eat. For example, the wee little package of Beef Ribs would probably work if it were just my husband and I (though DH insists he could eat that by himself) but with 5 kids, that just isn't working for us.

Ribs, though, can only be prepared one way, or can they?

A good soup stock starts with some sort of bone-in meat (for beef, this is usually Oxtail, which I saw at Walmart for $3.68 a pound this week), and a mirepoix of aromatic vegetables (more on that later). So ,why couldn't the ribs replace the Oxtail? It basically looks to be of approximentally the same composition (though the ribs were fattier).

I began though with a Mirepoix, which is the key to an amazing soup or stew. Basically, you need to finely chop some aromatic vegetables, such as what I used: 1 carrot, 1 rib of celery, 1 medium onion, and 2 garlic cloves. This normally though can include other things you happen to have: cabbages, parsnips, turnips, broccoli stalks (save the florets for later), and so forth. I also for flavor tossed in the following:

caraway seeds (awesome with Beef anything!)
A few cloves
Whole cumin seeds
Some bay leaves (2-3)
Whole coriander seeds

And thus I saulted my mirepoix until it was just starting to brown.

I should also say that I used a large pot so I could then throw in the ribs, and just ever so slightly braise them on the bottom of the pot, which develops flavor. Doing this with something as incoveniently shaped as ribs (as opposed to the oxtail which is made for this task!), is not easy and it will by no means be completely braised. I also sliced a bit of the fat off first, anything that was freely hanging there (the dogs enjoyed it). I manuvered the ribs around to try to get a few different sides ligthly browned, while keeping the veggies from scortching on the bottom.

Then, I added the water...about 4-6 quarts only because I needed to cover the ends of the ribs. One can always use extra beef stock.

I set it to simmer, covered it, and let is be for about 2-3 hours, or until the meat was literally falling off the bones. When you make a soup with oxtail, when there is nothing left in the round soup bone, it is done. I wasn't sure if a rib emptied out quite like that so I didn't hold it to that test. I waited until they were easily separated. :-) I pulled out the meat, and let it sit to cool for a little bit. One more addition to stock to give it more body is about 2-3T of red wine vinegar (really, any vinegar would work best, but I had some of this left over). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

After the ribs are cooled, pull off the meat, and put it into the stock.

I realized after cooking my stock that I had NO noodles, no rice, no barley, and not potatoes, which has to be a record in my house (i usually have a bucket full of each). I did however have flour, and my dear neighbor had some eggs. And, thankfully, I have a Spaetzel maker...though if I didn't, I would have just made homemade pasta, hand rolled and cut with a pizza cutter.

Spaetzel? What on earth?

Oh, only like MY FAVORITE sort of last minute soup addition!

I got my spaetzel maker when I lived in Austria. Actually, the woman I worked for gave me one as a wedding gift. However, I have seen them in some stores here in America, most notably in Lehman's Catalog, where they are just $6.95. Definately a bargain to be able to make last minute noodles!

The spaetzel recipe is simple enough:

beat 4 eggs
add to 2 cups of flour
Stir in 1/2 c. of water
add a dash of salt (optional)
I also added about 1T of parsley as I think it looks pretty

this is going to be a really wet sort of dough (not like bread or normal pasta dough). Scoop it up, put it in the hopper of the spaetzel maker, or dribble it with a spoon or fork into the simmering stew. if you are using the spaetzel maker, move the hopper back and forth as if you are using a grater or mandoline slicer, over the stew, to make the dough fall into the simmering broth below. It's that easy (cleaning the thing is the hard part! LOL).