Saving T-Bone...Stretching the Lone Steak

It's been a cooking weekend...my first duty was to save T-bone...the steak, not the dog. A couple of months ago, @smylie2005 brought home a four pack of beautiful T-bone steaks! They were delicious, but we only had three dining that night. So we put the fourth away for 'rainy day'. Sunday became that day!

Most times that we have a leftover steak, it gets used for Stir Fry...I was in the mood for soup; it was dreary and wet outside. This is different from a regular beef soup in that I cook the steak to rare, and it's added back at the end. In a regular beef soup, a tough cut is used and a long cook time tenderizes it. There's no such need when it's a T-bone, a New York Strip or Ribeye in use! So, here's how I do Steak & Potato Soup.

Would ya look at that marbling!!! I season liberally with a mix of kosher salt, pepper, oregano, garlic and onion powder. I also added a couple of grinds of this lemon thyme salt for added interest. I love our local Aldi's...they're always setting out something new and unusual! Let is sit out at room temperature for about an hour, seasoned.

I seared it over medium high heat, in a tablespoon each of olive oil and butter, doing 4 minutes on the first side and 3 minutes on the second side. The intent is that it stay rare enough so when we do put in the soup, it doesn't overcook. Isn't that a beautiful crust??? It'd be good to eat, just like that! yum! I love T-bones!

Take the steak out and set it one a plate to rest. We'll cut the bone off after it's rested. To the oil and butter in the pot, add one diced onion, two ribs of diced celery, a small diced red bell pepper, two medium sliced carrots and a handful of those mushrooms we saved the other day. Let these cook, over medium heat, to soften and deglaze the flavor bits (the fond) from the bottom of the pan, that were left from our searing the T-bone.

I added eight cups of hot beef stock to the pot and added the bone from the T-bone steak, to bump that flavor up. This was brought to a boil, reduced to a simmer and allowed to cook slowly for a good hour and a half. While this was working, I cut up six Yukon gold potatoes into bite sized chunks along with a couple more carrots. The first carrots pretty much go to flavoring the stock and will be nearly gone when this soup is finished...I want some more carrots in the finished soup.

This guy gets cut into thin slivers...yes, I DID steal a bite!!! How did you know??? Anyway, I cut the strip down its length, then cut each half, across the grain, into thin slivers. It goes further that way! Just leave it on the plate...it's too soon to put it in the soup.

In went the potatoes and carrots and a nice splash of Worcestershire sauce. And that cooked just until the potatoes and carrots were tender. For good measure, I threw in another small handful of sliced mushrooms...again, so they would be visible in the finished product. Oh, and some cilantro that I had left from Mexican dinner the other night. I had about a tablespoon or so. Parsley would work, here, too. Give this a taste, and add salt or pepper, if need be. This one was flavorful from the home made stock, so didn't need much.

This is the finished Steak & Potato Soup before adding the sliced meat. I canned two quarts, placing about half the beef in the bottom of each jar, topping with the piping hot soup. There was even a bit left for a lunch bowl !

I hope you'll give this a try the next time you've got a spare piece of steak hanging around the freezer! It sure is tasty!

Until next time, my friends...just keep on Steemin'!

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