Savory Shell Soup

Seeing how it is still "winter" in Wyoming, I thought I would post a yummy soup recipe today.

This is another of my mom’s classic recipes. It is easily doubled or probably even halved so it can feed a crowd or just a few. There is nothing complicated about this soup and it’s hearty and delicious.It does take a while to cook so give yourself a couple of hours from start to finish.

Savory Shell Soup

1 lb stew meat

3-4 tsp cooking oil *

1 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1 T marjoram **

6 cubes/ tsp. beef bouillon

10 cups water

2 medium potatoes

2 ¼ cups large shell pasta, uncooked

1. Cut the meat into bite-size pieces.
2. In a 5-quart kettle, heat the cooking oil; add the stew meat and cook over medium—high heat until browned.
3. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and marjoram over the meat and stir. Gradually pour the water over the mixture and bring to a boil.
4. Add the bouillon to the soup and stir until dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
5. While soup is simmering, peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-size pieces.
6. Adjust the heat to bring the soup to a full boil. Add the potatoes and the shells, and cook over medium-high heat until done.

* I rarely use cooking oil when I’m browning meat so I didn’t use it here.

** I have also never tried marjoram in this recipe.