Steak and potato soup
Seared sirloin tips and tender potatoes in a rich, beefy broth, a steakhouse dinner you eat with a spoon.
- 55 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $4.15 a serving
- 460 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 lb sirloin steak tips, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups beef broth
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ lb russet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch cubes
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp dried thyme
Each serving has about 460 calories, 32 g protein, 44 g carbs and 19 g fat, and costs about $4.15 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No beef broth? Bone broth works.
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the steak dry and it with ½ teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. the onion, carrots and celery, the garlic and cube the potatoes.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until it .
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Medium-high heat
the steak in one layer, without moving it, for 2 minutes, then turn and sear 1 minute more.
Sear. Searing means cooking the outside of meat or fish in a hot pan, without moving it, until a deep brown crust forms. The crust is packed with flavor, and it only forms on a dry surface.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the moment it goes in, and it lets go of the pan on its own when the crust is ready.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Dolly’s tip: It should still be pink inside. It finishes cooking in the soup at the end, so it stays tender.Move it to a plate.
Turn the heat to medium, the butter and cook the onion, carrots and celery for 5 minutes, until soft.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the garlic and flour and cook for 1 minute.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Slowly in the broth, , then add the Worcestershire, thyme, potatoes and the rest of the salt and .
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low, cover and for 15 to 18 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 16 min 30 sec
Stir the steak and its juices back in and simmer for 2 minutes, until the steak is just cooked through.
Low heatTimer: 2 min
Food safety: Steak, pork chops and other whole cuts are safe at 145°F in the middle, then let them rest for 3 minutes before cutting.
Taste for salt and pepper and serve with parsley.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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