Rustic Vegetable-Beef Soup

I came up with this last week on a snow day and it really hit the spot. I later wrote down the 'recipe' as best I could remember of what went in, and will retest and photograph when I get to the store for some more fennel seeds and maybe cabbage, as well. So, for now, amounts of ingredients are approximated as per usual for me, but slight variations should be fine. By the way, I always do soups in my enamel cast-iron 6-quart dutch oven--the cast iron holds the heat well and does a quick job of bringing the flavors together like an all-day slow cooker.

Ingrediets:

1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 c. turkey bacon, chopped
1 sm. onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1-2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans
1 can french cut green beans
3-4 c. raw potato, peeled (or not) and chopped
1-2 qt. water

Spices:

1 T. onion powder or minced onion flakes
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. fennel seed
1 1/2-2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 fresh, finely gound pepper
1-2 T. sugar

Directions:

Brown beef and bacon with onion and celery in dutch oven until all are thouroughly cooked and have rendered their flavors. Add remaining ingredients, stir and cook on medium (keep at a low simmer) for 1 hour, give or take. Towards the end of the cooking time, adjust liquid and spices to taste, simmering 15-20 minutes longer if adding any.


Additional Notes:

When making soups, I think about varying colors, textures, and tying together flavors with with the ingredients. If you get too crazy with spices, they work against each other, but the combination of cumin, oregano and fennel along with onion and garlic powders compliment each other. Leaving peels on the potato lends a more rustic sense, while soft, white squares of peeled potato add a very appealing look to the soup. So, you be the judge.

To add to the 'rustic-ness', I added larger chunks of chopped, fresh tomato mostly because I had some to use up, but realized this added another layer to the soup. Other vegetables that would work very nicely are cabbage, corn and shredded carrot.