Mrs I. calls it 'body soup' - her term for a very butch soup, at the mezzanine level, if you will, between stew and soup. When we were children it was almost always lunch on a cold, cheerless day when there were only three or four of us, and without fail was the most heartening, warming presence in the day. And from my Mother's point of view, an excellent housewifely way of using up odds and ends in the kitchen, and stretching a little mince a long way.
I made this today by sweating onion and garlic until soft, then adding a finely diced carrot and two celery stalks until these also began to soften. A dash of smoked paprika (why not?) and some ground cumin went in for a scant minute, before beef mince (an extravagant 500g) was stirred in until browned. Into this went a tin of chopped tomatoes, a good few tablespoons of concentrate tomato paste, enough water to make this very loose and soupy and a handful of thyme, stalks on.
This simmered away for 40 minutes until we were ready to eat, at which point I also slid in chopped, leftover kale and cavolo nero, and a tin of black eye beans. You don't need me to say that ANY beans or pasta or vegetables would be good in this - it's such a charm when you have too much dreaded swede hanging around.
Then all you need is heavily buttered bread, and a spoon.
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