Golden Beef And Vegetable Soup

Traditional Sunday lunch of every Slovenian starts with a plate full of beef soup also known as goveja juha (go·wɛ·ya  you·ha) in Slovenian. It’s what represents home for us. The comfort and warmth of a family meal when everyone comes to the table to enjoy food and each other’s company.

Beef with vegetables is cooked for several hours or until the meat is cooked on low heat, gently simmering all morning. Soup is then strained and the liquid is used to cook noodles in. Homemade noodles are best. Use the thinnest you can find and no more than 2 inches long. Cut carrots into small circles or half circles and add them to the noodle soup. Cooked beef is sliced but not served with soup. Usually, it is eaten after the soup, with some potatoes and green salad.

Ingredients

2.2 pounds beef

3 carrots

½ onion

1 bunch parsley

1 small cabbage leaf

1 bunch celery leaves

5 bay leaves

½ cup dried vegetable mix (parsnips, carrots, celery, leek, lovage, parsley)

1 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons salt

1 bunch chives

 

Directions

Put beef in a big pot and top it with water. Clean vegetables, peel carrots and put them in the pot with beef and water. Add spices. Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the temperature to the lowest level and let simmer for at least an hour until the meat is cooked.

Use a fork and stick it into the meat to test if it is cooked.

Strain the soup into a medium sized pot. Save carrots and meat.

Cook noodles in the golden strained soup as per instructions, about 5-10 minutes, depends on the noodles you have. Traditionally, very thin and short noodles are most commonly used. Usually, half a handful of dry noodles per person is enough.

Cut cooked carrots into circles and add them to the soup.

Sprinkle some chopped chives on top and serve hot.

Cut beef in slices but save it for later when you make potatoes and serve them with green salad.

Clear soup does not have to be served with noodles. You can make semolina dumplings, croutons, or some prefer just a slice of home baked bread.

Homemade spaghetti

If you ask kids what they want for lunch or dinner, the answer is almost always PASTA! We eat pasta every week. Sometimes it’s macaroni, other times spaghetti, we cook it with soups, or make ravioli. And they taste extra special when we make them at home from scratch.

Here it the basic recipe.

Ingredients

3 eggs

300 g  (2 cups) flour

 

Directions

Sift flour and add eggs. Mix well until a smooth and very thick dough forms. Put dough onto a work surface and knead for a couple of minutes. Let dough rest for 5 minutes.

Divide dough into smaller chunks (6-8) and use a manual pasta machine to roll and cut dough into desired pasta shape. You can also use a rolling pin and a knife. It will just take a little longer to make.

Boil water in a medium pot. Add a teaspoon of salt. Cook pasta for about 4 minutes and serve with your favorite sauce.

 

Video recipe for Bolognese sauce:

Sweet Apricot Dumplings

This typical Slovenian dessert is often served with fruit compote and eaten as a main dish. You can also eat it as a dessert but you have to make them smaller and only use ¼ of an apricot. They are very filling and a serving size is 1 to 2 dumpling, depending of the size of the dumpling or the guest’s appetite:).

 

Ingredients

2.2 lbs potatoes (8-10 medium potatoes)

2 ½ cups flour (You can switch 1 cup flour with semolina flour)

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon salt

2 eggs

8 apricots

8 sugar cubes (or teaspoons of sugar)

½ cup butter

½ cup breadcrumbs

 

Instructions

Wash potatoes but don’t peel them. Put potatoes in a medium pot, pour water to cover them and add a little salt. Bring the water to boil and let potatoes cook until soft, approximately 30 minutes.

When done, peel them and put in a mixing bowl. Mash the potatoes.

Add flour, 1 tablespoon butter, eggs, salt, and mix quickly. Don’t let the dough cool too much or it will get sticky.

Half apricots and remove pits.

Flour your hands and place a scoop of dough in one hand and flatten it using the other. Place 1 apricot half in the middle and add a cube of sugar. Form a ball so the apricot with sugar is completely covered with dough. You can also use a teaspoon of sugar instead of cube. Just be careful not to sprinkle it too much on the outside of the ball. Repeat until you run out of dough.

This recipe yields about 15 dumplings.

Fill a bigger pot with water, add salt, and bring to boil. Place dumplings in the boiling water and cook for 20 minutes.

Melt butter in a saucepan, add breadcrumbs, and cook until golden brown.

When dumplings are done, place them on a plate and pour a tablespoon of breadcrumbs with butter. You can also sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top if you wish.

You can cook some and put the rest in the freezer (just formed into balls but not yet cooked).

It’s a delicious meal either as a dessert or as a main dish.

Easy Home Made Raspberry Jam Recipe

Do you have raspberries in your garden but can’t eat them all at once? Make some homemade jam and save them for the winter. There are many recipes but this one is my favorite because it’s easy and only takes a few minutes make. Plus, it’s delicious and it lasts forever. Seriously, I opened a 4-year old jar and it still tasted as new.

 

Instructions

 

8 cups raspberries

4 cups sugar w/ pectin

 

First, weigh the raspberries. Put them in a pot and mix while cooking on a medium heat. After about 5 minutes of bubbling add sugar with pectin. Follow the directions on the box. Some have different fruit to sugar ratios. Our said 2:1. 2 cups fruit, 1 cup sugar with pectin. Mix and cook for a couple minutes until the jam starts to thicken.

Before you pour the jam in jars test it by using a plate and putting a small amount of jam on it. Wait a minute. If it’s still runny, you need to cook it a little longer or add more sugar with pectin. If it jiggles, it’s done.

Pour into clean jars and close with lids.

You can spread it on your pancakes, eat it in a sandwich with some butter or peanut butter, or even warm it on a stove and pour over your ice cream or other desserts.