Make Kansas City Steak Soup

6 Parts:

Ingredients

Equipment

Preparation

Cooking Instructions

Tips, Tricks & Warnings

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If you have a craving for a delicious home cooked meal, but don't want to spend hours in the kitchen prepping and cooking, Kansas City Steak Soup could be the recipe that you're looking for.

This southern favorite will really bring the family together and can even be dressed up for more formal occasions. The basic ingredients of beef, tomatoes and celery mean that you probably have what you need to start cooking this right now. It's a great comfort food for a cool winter evening, so why not try it out?

• 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 lb. total of either strip steak, rib eye steak, sirloin steak, rump steak or ground sirloin. For the full cuts, dice in 1/2 inch cubes. A combination of ground and diced beef can also be used.
• 1/2 cup of roughly chopped celery
• 1/2 cup of diced or sliced carrot
• 1/2 cup of diced onion
• 3 large garlic cloves, finely diced
• 1/4 cup of plain flour
• 3 cans of diced tomatoes
• 3-1/2 cups of liquid beef stock
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme
• Cracked or ground pepper, to taste
• Salt, to taste

• Measuring cup
• A sharp, all purpose kitchen knife
• A large pot or dutch oven.
• A large wooden or latex stirring spoon (If you don't have either you can make do with a large spatula.)

1. 1
   Dice all of your meat and set aside

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   If you're adding pepper, do that now, turning the meat in a bowl.

   

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2. 2
   Dice your vegetables and set aside

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3. 3
   Open any cans or cartons of stock, so they're ready for cooking; you don't need to transfer these to a container

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1. 1
   In a large pot (or dutch oven), heat your oil over medium heat

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   Add your meat and cook until browned around the edges.

   

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2. 2
   Remove the meat from the pot and transfer it to a bowl, including the oil and juices

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3. 3
   In the same pot, add your butter and let it melt over medium heat

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   Make sure not to caramelize the butter. If it becomes brown and sticky, the heat is too high.

   

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4. 4
   Add all of your vegetables, including the garlic and onion, and cook until softened

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   This should take between two and five minutes.

   

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5. 5
   Add your flour to the pot

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   Stir constantly to break up all the lumps and collect any meat bits from the bottom of the pot. Continue until the mixture is smooth, with no lumps of flour.

   

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6. 6
   Now stir in your tomatoes (don't worry about draining the can first), liquid beef stock and dried thyme

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7. 7
   Mix well and bring the soup to a boil

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8. 8
   Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes

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9. 9
   Add your meat, including the oil and juices and cook for a further 3 minutes for medium rare, or up to 10 minutes for well done

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10. 10
    At this point you can add additional salt and pepper

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    Salt is not usually needed because of the sodium levels in the beef stock and canned tomatoes.

    

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11. 11
    Transfer the soup to medium bowls and serve immediately with salted crackers, bread, fried flat-bread or a starchy side dish of your choosing

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Like with any recipe, everyone has their own favorite variations and additional ingredients for Kansas City Steak Soup. Why not try one of the options below to create some new flavors?

• You can add 1/2 cup of dry red wine or table wine to give the soup a richer flavor. Don't worry too much about the quality of the wine you use. A cheap cooking wine will do the trick.
• For a healthier option, you can cook the vegetables in olive spread instead of butter, or to go in the complete opposite direction, and cook them in bacon grease to really add some complex meat flavors to this recipe.
• Try adding a dash of Worcestershire sauce while cooking the vegetables.
• If you want to present this easy favorite for a more formal dining occasion, serve it as a stew over couscous seasoned with herbs and balsamic vinegar to add a North African twist.
• You can get inventive with the vegetables, adding broad beans or string beans, diced potatoes, corn, green peas, or basically whatever you like. The things that really make this recipe are the celery and tomatoes. Anything you add from there is up to you.
• If you don't have fresh veggies, frozen mixed vegetables will also work well in this soup.

If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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