So Many Variations - Vegetable Beef Soup

Vegetable beef soup is included in many culinary cultures, from Italian beef broth to Asian beef soups full of chili and fresh vegetables. The options are almost limitless with this combination, as beef goes with many vegetables. It all depends on your mood – thick Italian style soups with vegetables such as tomato, leek, carrots and celery go well with beef flank, with the beef left in one whole piece or large chunks, cooked slowly to result in a rich fulsome soup. Asian soups are versatile – beef in any form, cut into strips and marinated, then seared and added to broth with blanched vegetables such as pak choi, fresh snap peas and carrot. What really makes the difference with any of these soups are the herbs.

While not all gardeners have room for the joys of vegetable gardening, growing herbs is easy and takes very little space. The range of herbs available to grow at home is enormous, and limited only by personal taste. Many people choose to grow themed herb containers, with one pot containing a selection of Asian herbs such as Thai basil, Chinese chives and coriander (lemon grass is also a popular Asian herb, but it grows voraciously and is best in its own container); another is an Italian selection with basil, oregano and parsley.

How to Keep Herbs

Despite growing in small containers, herbs can soon grow in large amounts, overwhelming the kitchen gardener. Luckily, herbs are good to freeze. If you first chop your herbs, you can then put them in ice-cube trays, cover them with water and thaw them when you next need the taste of fresh herbs.

You can also add the ice-cubes directly to soups to thaw while cooking. Many herbs also dry well. While often tasting a bit different, dried herbs work well in recipes such as soup, and have a more concentrated flavor, so you will need less.

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