President Eisenhower's Vegetable Soup
- Bones of uncooked chicken
- Large beef soup bone, split so that the morrow can escape
- 1 2 pound chunk beef soup meat, left on the bone
- 1 pound chunk lamb stew meat, left on the bones
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- 1 clove garlic and whole onion, sliced
- 2 medium onions, sliced
- 3 stalks celery, cut up
- 3 medium carrots, diced
- 1 cup fresh peas
- 4 cups diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup canned corn
- 1 cup shredded cabbage
- 2 medium potatoes, diced into small pieces
- 1 cup barley
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 10-12 nasturtium stems, if available (I think that watercress stems could
- be used instead)
Place bones, meat, salt, pepper, garlic and whole onion in a large iron or heavy aluminum pot (a good size soup pot will do, I'm sure) and add 4-5 quarts of water and boil all day until the meat drops from the bones. Add water as needed. (I don't think that it necessary to boil the meat all day, only until the meat is tender and drops off of the bones). Strain the soup stock through a colander, making sure to get all the juice that you can, including the marrow that was in the bone. At this point pick out a few of the firmer pieces of meat, cut them up and reserve them for when you are ready to finish making the soup. Let the stock rest in the refrigerator at least overnight, and when you are ready to finish making it, skim off about half of the grease or fat that has risen to the top. Now you are ready to finish the soup as President Eisenhower did. Prepare the vegetables that will go into the soup. Add the vegetables to the soup stock in the order that they are listed in the recipe, allowing each to cook two or three minutes before adding the next. While the vegetables are boiling, cook the barley in a separate stew pan, stirring occasionally. When barley is done, add it, the Worcestershire sauce and the meat chunks you have reserved to the soup. Also in a separate saucepan, boil the fresh nasturtium stems, cut up into tiny pieces, for a few minutes until tender and add to the soup. Soup is ready to be served. Serves 14-16 Jan