Mom's Vegetable Soup With Chicken Or Beef(german Gemuse Suppe)

Total Time: 2 hrs 50 mins Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 8
• 1 round beef bones (soup bone) or 1 whole chicken
• 8 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 onion, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 3 sprigs fresh parsley
• 4 -5 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 leek, chopped ( and light-green parts only)
• 2 -3 stalks celery, sliced (with leaves)
• 1 -2 chicken bouillon cube
• ground black pepper (do not add any salt)
• 3 -4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-inch chunks
• 1 medium cauliflower, broken into rosettes
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Recipe

• 1 to an 8 quart stock pot, add beef bone or chicken, water, bay leaf, onion chunks, and sprigs of parsley. bring to a boil; cover, then simmer about 1 to 1 1/2 hours until beef or chicken is almost done.
• 2 remove meat bone or chicken to a plate and let cool enough to handle. strip meat from the bones into chunks (discard bones), and set aside.
• 3 meanwhile add sliced carrots, leek, chopped celery with leaves, chicken bouillon cubes and pepper (do not add salt). bring to a boil; cover and simmer 5 to 10 minutes.
• 4 add the potatoes and the chunks of meat from the cooled soupbone or the chicken; cover and simmer about 35 minutes longer.
• 5 add cauliflower rosettes, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. add chopped fresh parsley and remove from heat.
• 6 serve steaming hot with a crusty french bread or rolls and butter.
• 7 makes good leftovers (soup is great on day 1, but tastes even better on days 2-3), and freezes/reheats well.
• 8 variations: may add about 6 oz. frozen peas at same time as cauliflower (increase cooking time by about 5 minutes to compensate for the cold peas). i also sometimes add a cup or two of fresh sliced zucchini and/or green beans a few minutes after adding the cauliflower. also good with sliced hot dogs or kielbasa sausage added during the last 5 minutes or so of cooking time (enough time to heat through).