This is good soup to cook at winter: time when fresh herbs are not full of flavor and most of vegetables are not as full of nutrients as fresh ones.
Root vegetables used in this recipe (potatoes, carrots, parsley and celery roots) are good on keeping their nutrient through whole winter and buckwheat grains add even more.
As for most of meat broth based soups, you can save some time cooking it by preparing meat broth in advance: night before or so, and then reheat before cooking buckwheat soup itself.
I really encourage you to cook beef broth yourself, whatever they say in those advertisements, but broth from can can’t be the same good as broth prepared by yourself from ingredients you choose, it is not that hard after all.
Ingredients:
1lb beef bone-in meat for meat broth (beef shank or ribs or so)
½ cup of buckwheat
1 potato
1 medium carrot
1 small onion
1 parsley root or parsnip
A piece of celery root
1 tbsp of sunflower oil
Salt to taste
How to prepare, step-by-step:
Prepare ingredients: it is herd to find parsley root in US shop, so I substitute it with parsnip, it isn’t the same, but very similar:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 1
Rinse meat with cold water and put it to the cooking pot; fill cooking pot with about 3 quarts of cold water, put on the burner on moderate heat. Once water starts boiling, remove scum with skimmer, cover pot with a lid and reduce heat that water doesn’t boil too much. Cook meat broth for 1.5h or until meat is ready (find here more tip on how to make meath broth / stock). You can actually prepare broth in advance and just heat it up when you are ready to proceed with rest of steps:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 2
While broth is cooking; clean buckwheat of seed shells, weed and other particles which can happen even in grain which looks clean. For that pour a bit of buckwheat on the table or cutting board so you can arrange it in a thin layer and then remove everything which doesn’t look like a buckwheat with your finger:
Clean Buckwheat
Then collect cleaned grain back to the bowl:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 3
Warm skillet with 1 table spoon of oil on moderate heat. Peel and chop onions, add them to the warmed up skillet and fry until softened; stir from time to time:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 4
Skin carrot and slice it into stripes. Once onions are ready, add carrots to them and continue stirring and frying for approximately 15 mins; then remove skillet from burner:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 5
When broth is ready, take meat out with fork or skimmer, cut it into portion pieces (be careful, it will be hot) and put back to the cooking pot, put bones back in as well; bring to light boil:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 6
Skin and slice in stripes parsley root and piece of celery root; add them to the cooking pot:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 7
Rinse buckwheat grains with cold water; drain water and pour buckwheat to the cooking pot:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 8
Skin potato, cut it into cubes with about 1” side size, and add them to the cooking pot, cook for about 10 mins:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 9
Then add all onions and carrots from the skillet:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 10
Cook soup lightly boiling until potatoes are ready (you can easily pierce them with a knife), but not too soft; then salt to taste:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 11
Pour buckwheat soup to the soup bowls and serve for lunch or as an soup entry before dinner:
Buckwheat Soup Recipe: Step 12
