Slovenian Beef Soup
In Slovenia one thing is constant - goveja juha or beef soup is for lunch on Sunday. Slovenian beef soup is a clear beef soup often served with thin noodles (similar to vermicelli) or semolina dumplings. It is believed that the recipe originated in Vienna and that it spread from there to the various regions of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, including modern day Slovenia. Slovenian beef soup has been an integral part of the multi-course menu offered in restaurants as early as the 19th century. To this day most restaurants offer dnevna juha or ‘soup of the day’ for lunch and one of the options is almost always goveja juha.
Recipe
Ingredients:
2 l water
700 g beef Osso Bucco (meat with bones from the beef shank)
2 orange carrots
1 yellow carrot
1 3 cm piece of leek
1 parsnip
1 small piece of celeriac (about 1/4)
2 cauliflower florets
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
a handful of parsley stalks
1 cherry tomato
a few whole black peppercorns
1-2 tbsp vegeta (optional, but used in most beef soup recipes in Slovenia)
2-3 beef stock cubes (I often use Knorr beef bouillon cubes)
a few threads of saffron
1 tsp salt, or to taste
pepper to taste
thin noodles (I usually use about 200g)
chopped fresh parsley
Instructions:
Cut the onion in half and place in a pan over high heat. Fry the onion without adding any oil or other types of fat for a few minutes until blackened slightly. Set aside.
Wash the meat and the bones, and put them in a large pot. Add the carrots, leeks, parsnip, celeriac, cauliflower, onion, garlic, bay leaves, parsley stalks, cherry tomatoes and black peppercorns.
Pour 2 l of water into the pot and add salt. Make sure all the ingredients are fully submerged in water, then place on a stove and start heating. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot with a lid. Cook at low temperature for 2 hours. During the cooking make sure that no big boiling bubbles form - if they do, reduce the temperature further.
After 2 hours of cooking, add vegeta and saffron. Taste the soup and if needed, add a beef stock cube, stir it in and mix until it dissolves. Try the soup and if it tastes bland, add another cube (maximum 3). Also add salt to taste. Continue cooking for another hour at low temperature just like the first two hours.
When the soup is cooked, remove the vegetables and meat and strain it through a fine sieve and into a clean pot. Carrots and meat can be chopped and served with the soup.
Cook the noodles in a separate pot of salted water following the instructions on the package.
Ladle the soup into plates, add noodles and if desired, carrots and beef, sprinkle with some chopped parsley on top and enjoy.
