24. Slow Cooked Beef Minestroneo

I made this soup last week. I am a little behind because we just came back from vacation. But now that it’s officially Fall, I hope to get back to my original mission and make a new soup recipe each week. Unfortunately, there were a few weeks that I got off track.
This recipe is from Wegman’s Menu magazine, Fall 2009, W issue.

Slow-Cooked Beef Minestrone

1 pkg (about 1.5 lbs) Boneless Beef Chuck Roast, cut into 1 inch cubes
Wegman’s Pan Searing Flour
2 Tbs Wegman’s Pure Olive Oil
1 pkg (16 oz) Food You Feel Good About Cleaned & Cut Minestrone Soup Vegetables
Salt and Pepper
1 carton (32 oz) Food You Feel Good About Beef Culinary Stock
! can (14.5 oz) Wegman’s Italian Style Diced Tomatoes
1 pkg (24 oz) Italian Classics Seasoned Tomato Sauce (Prepared Foods)
½ cup dry Italian Classics Ditalini Soup Pasta
1 can (15.5 oz ) Italian Classics Garbanzo Beans, drained and rinsed
1 pkg (6oz) Food You Feel Good About Baby Spinach

1. Dust beef with pan-searing flour; pat off excess.
2. Heat oil in large braising pan on Medium-High until oil faintly smokes. Add beef, sear 10 min until all sides are paper-bag brown.
3. Transfer beef to slow cooker; don’t discard pan drippings. Add vegetables to skillet with beef drippings; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring 3 minutes; add to slow cooker.
4. Add stock, tomatoes, and sauce to slow cooker. Cover, cook 4 ½ - 6 hours on High or 8 – 10 on Low.
5. Add dry pasta and beans 30 minutes before end of cooking on High (45 minutes before end of cooking on Low)
6. Add spinach to slow cooker; stir to blen well. Allow spinach to lightly wilt, about 2 minutes.

Changes and Shortcuts: I just couldn’t find the Italian Classics Seasoned Tomato Sauce so I decided to buy a random can of tomato sauce off the shelf. When I assembled all my ingredients the morning I was making this soup I realized that I had picked up crushed tomatoes by mistake. I remembered that I had some home made spaghetti sauce in the freezer so I quickly threw it in the microwave for a little bit to get it started defrosting. Then, after browning the meat and vegetables, I put the sauce in that pan and cooked it on low for a little while to get it pretty much defrosted before I added it to the slow cooker. I had cut up the meat the night before—that seemed like the most time consuming part of the recipe. The only other change is that I didn’t add the spinach to the soup pot. I hate how spinach in left over soup gets sort of slimy so I just added a handful to each bowl as I ladled it out, stirred it around, and voila!—it was perfect. Oh, and I added just a little more of the pasta to the pot. A ½ cup just didn’t seem like much.

Results: Pretty good. This was a nice thick soup that was very easy to make. It makes a lot so I had leftovers for lunch a few times during the week.

Keeper? YES!