Granny Millar’s beef and greens soup

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 3 hours

Serves 6-8

This is my Granny Millar’s recipe. It’s based on shin of beef – only a small quantity – and its stock. Use soup celery (also known as leaf celery or cutting celery) if you can find it; it’s leafier and has a stronger taste, but standard celery is perfectly good. The finished dish isn’t puréed but the potatoes mostly fall apart, making something between a soup and a stew. There will be fighting over the marrow. There always is.

INGREDIENTS For the stock

– 800g shin of beef – 1 onion, peeled and

halved

– 2 celery sticks,

halved

– 2 carrots, peeled

and trimmed – a generous handful of

parsley stalks

– 10 black peppercorns

For the soup

– 900g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into big chunks

– 3 large leeks, trimmed and coarse outer leaves removed

– 3 celery sticks, chopped very finely, plus a good handful of celery leaves, roughly chopped (try to get celery that has plenty of leaves on it) – 70g parsley, roughly chopped

METHOD

Put everything for the stock in a large saucepan and add enough water to cover. Bring to just under the boil, turn the heat right down and simmer gently for two hours. Check the water level every so often.

Lift the shin out of the stock, put it into a bowl, cover and put it in the fridge.

Strain the stock. You will probably have about two litres but however much you have, boil it to reduce the stock to about 1.7 litres. Add the potatoes to this and cook on a low-medium heat for 20 minutes. Some of the potatoes will completely collapse. Slice the leeks and wash them to dislodge any soil. Add the leeks, celery (but not the celery leaves) and half the parsley to the soup, and cook for another 25 minutes, or until you have a consistency you like.

Tear the beef into small chunks, leaving the fat and bones behind. Stir the meat into the soup and check the seasoning – this needs good seasoning as it’s so starchy – then add the chopped celery leaves and the rest of the parsley. Heat the soup to warm the beef through and check the seasoning once more before serving.