Winter Soup

The original recipe is called Red Wine Vegetable Soup, although the first ingredient listed is ground beef. There is red wine but not so much that you can’t call it something else.

The recipe comes from a cookbook called The Sharecropper cookbook. It’s full of easy, tried and true recipes. The illustrations come from stitchery pictures embroidered by the late artist, Ethel Wright Mohamed. One of her original works hangs in the Smithsonian. She hails from my hometown of Belzoni, Mississippi.

This soup is a good one to put on the stove and walk away. Those are my favorites.

1 1/2 pounds ground beef or ground turkey
2 medium onions, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped (I put the whole bell pepper. Otherwise, the half would have lounged in the refrigerator until it rotted.)
3 ribs celery, chopped
28 ounce can tomatoes
2 15-oz cans tomato sauce
1 large potato chopped in small dice (The original recipe called for 2 potatoes. Next time I may try a sweet potato instead. Living on the edge, that’s me.)
2 16-oz packages frozen mixed vegetables
1 tablespoon parsley flakes
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 tablespoon salt (That seems like a lot of salt but it seems to need it. You can cut back on the amount, of course, and add other seasonings.)
1/2 cup red wine
1 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock (or water)

Brown meat in large pot. Add onion, bell pepper and celery – cook until soft. Add other ingredients and simmer 3 or 4 hours. Freezes well.

Makes a ton o’ soup. You could easily halve the recipe.