My Dad's Spaghetti Soup (sans spaghetti)

My dad's soup was such a big hit in my house that when I stopped at Whole Foods on my way home from a trip to the city, I snagged another pound of the grass fed ground beef so I could make another batch.

However upon starting the batch, I realized that I was out of thin spaghetti. Hence the substitution. It still came out nice and it's a bit easier for my youngest children to eat. Upon soaking up in the fridge a bit, it's more like an "American Chop Suey" stew. I put two bags of it in the freezer. Yum.

My Dad's Spaghetti Soup (hopefully)

I haven't had my dad's spaghetti soup in years and over Christmas we were discussing it when he mentioned what he planned on making once he had his kitchen back (it's being remodeled). He instructed me on how to make it verbally and I figured I could probably work it out so that it was hopefully at least 75% as good as how my father makes it.

His instructions (as best as I remembered them, I'm sure they're not exact):

Cook onions and a little olive oil in a large pot as if you were going to start a spaghetti sauce (I also added a clove of garlic minced). Add ground beef and brown. I seasoned the beef with pepper, salt, oregano, basil, and one bay leaf. I'm not sure of when he said to add the sauce spices but this worked for me. Add two cans of Pastene Kitchen Ready (these are the only canned tomatoes I use. The flavor is out of this world and it's not concentrated. I also read that they don't line their cans with the plastic bpa coating which is an added bonus for me.) Add four cans of water and cook for a while. Adjust seasoning to taste. You can tell when it gets that "sauce" flavor and the kind of tart flavor smoothes out. Add 1/2 box thin spaghetti (he said thin spaghetti or angel hair but I prefer thin spaghetti) breaking it up into lengths of about 2-3 inches. Simmer until spaghetti is cooked through. I turned the heat off and let it sit for about 15 minutes before having a bowl. The spaghetti was just perfect at that point. Top with shredded parmesan (or whatever you have).

Vegetable Pot Pie

Wow did this come out good. Even our niece Christine said that you couldn't tell that the gravy wasn't meat gravy. A few tweaks to add more green veggies and less potatos and I think we're good. Since this meal was lacking a bit in the protein area we also served it with both vegetarian "meatballs" and regular meatballs (for those of us who are still a little bit carnivore).

The Crust (makes two medium sized pies or one pie of traditional size):

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 stick plus 2 TBS butter

1/4 cup to 6 TBS cold water

Mix together flour and salt. Cut butter into small cubes and toss with the flour to coat cubes. Using a pastry blender (or two knives) cut butter into flour until bits are about the size of a pea or even a bit smaller. Sprinkle cold water 2 TBS at a time onto the mix and fluff until it is coated and when pressed will stick together. Mixture should not feel wet but it should stick together.

Refrigerate dough for at least 20 minutes.

Divide into the number of crusts you need (no more than four) and roll out each section on a well floured surface. Add crust to pan and press into bottom and sides if air pockets puff it up. Fill with vegetables and gravy(etc) and then cover with top crust. Press and roll in the sides. Remember that it doesn't have to be perfect. The best pie crusts are the ones that look kind of funky.

The gravy:

1 TBS paste style vegetable boullion

3 cups water

3 TBS clarified butter (you can use regular butter)

3-5 TBS flour

Mix boullion into 3 cups warm water until dissolved completely. Set aside. In a saucepan, make a roux by melting clarified butter on medium-low heat and whisking in the flour to make a semi wet paste. When paste forms, add broth and turn heat to medium-high. Whisk steadily until gravy thickens. If gravy does not form to your liking, you can add a pit more flour pre-mixed with water slowly to thicken it.

Pies should bake at 425. Start checking after 25 minutes. This pie took about 35 minutes but I like my crust slightly on the darker side.

If you do try this, let me know how you make out with it. Usually our vegetarian meal substitutes are tasty and passable (like shepherdless pie) but this one we all devoured and we honestly were hard pressed to tell the difference in flavor between this and a meat pot pie.

A Picture is Worth

Butter Biscuits

I'll be honest. I've been cheating. With my oldest starting Kindergarten and some work exhaustion I've been feeling my midnight baking has turned more into 9PM baking over the past couple of weeks. I've accomplished quite a bit, however, remembering to take photos hasn't been my strong suit so there are definitely a few things I will have to make again (like managing to actually make a decent pie crust lately).

I have one thing to say about these butter biscuits...and it's that if you make them, you might be tempted to never buy another can of biscuits again. Since discovering this recipe, it's probably been a few years since Pillsbury cans have found their way into my fridge. These are preservative free, tasty, and a fraction of the price if you buy your butter on sale. They take me about 2 minutes to mix and about 8 minutes from start to oven. You don't need to roll them and the kids usually eat about half the batch as soon as they come out of the oven.

Butter Biscuits:

2 cups unbleached flour (if using whole wheat, use no more than 1/2 cup wheat flour)

1 TBS sugar, brown sugar, or honey

1 TBS baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 stick butter (the real stuff) quartered and cut into small cubes

3/4 cup milk

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

Together in a bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Sprinkle a few cubes of butter into the mix and toss. Repeat until all cubes are integrated into flour mix. Cut in butter using two knives or a pastry mixer until mixture is the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can use your bare hands if you find the knives clumsy to work with and you don't have a pastry mixer. Add milk and stir together until well coated.

Dump ball of dough onto a floured surface and dust the top with flour. Using your hands, press the mix into a disc about 1/2-1/3 inch thick. Use a round cookie cutter to cut biscuit shapes and lay the circles on an ungreased cookie sheet. I use 2.5 inch diameter circles but you can use any size that you prefer. Gather dough together and repeat the pressing and cutting process until all the dough is used.

Bake biscuits about 12 minutes until golden. Adjust accordingly for the size of the cutter you use.

These are delicious warm and while they are super buttery already, a little pat of fresh butter after splitting is absolutely amazing.