Marie's Beef and Red Wine Soup

When my husband was a child, his family would frequent a particular restaurant and their favourite dish was this soup. His Mum tried her luck calling the chef directly and asking for the recipe as her children couldn't get enough of it. To her amazement, he talked her through each ingredient and step of the recipe until she was able to replicate it perfectly herself. 

This has become my favourite soup and that is a hard call considering the sweetcorn and chervil soup also on this blog and is another one for the history books. Marie's chicken soup is also medicinal heaven when you are sick. The combination of tender beef, thick red wine soup and root vegetables just sings, no roars, flavour.  

Ingredients:
250g beef rump, cut in small cubes
2 onions, diced
4tbsp plain flour
2 cups red wine
4 cups Campbell's beef stock (no need to make your own stock as this is just as good.)
3 carrots, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
2 potatoes medium, peeled and diced
parsley handful, finely chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
water 4 cups or more to cover ingredients 

Method:

1. Fry the onions in 2tbsp olive oil in a large deep stockpot on medium-high for a couple of minutes. Add beef and seal the meat until it is brown all over.
2. Add the flour and mix well for 1minute.
3. Add red wine, beef stock, carrots, celery, potatoes and parsley. Stir tomato paste into water and add to soup. Bring to boil and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for two hours.
Serve with olive focaccia or sourdough bread