Cocido, a Rustic Mexican Soup

This morning was spent around the house loving the weekend and loving my husband, then I was off to my afternoon salon appointment. Made a quick stop at Walgreen's to pick up a couple of grave stones and some skeleton hands on my way back home.

While my husband went off to run some errands...

I got into the kitchen to start tonight's dinner. This recipe is from the Wednesday Food section of the L. A. Times (10/19/05 page F3). It turned out to be wonderfully simple and full of earthy goodies. Cocido - derived from the Spanish word cocer, meaning to cook or to simmer over low heat - is a rustic, very colorful and hearty beef soup.

1.5 lbs beef shank, cut
1/4 onion cut in wedges
3 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
2 tsp salt
10 pepper corns (I used pepper milled)
2 red potatoes, quartered
1 ear of corn, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 large carrot, cut into chunks
16 green beans (I used about a cup)
Oregano, marjoram and thyme to taste
1 zucchini, cut into 1" pieces
Chopped fresh cilantro

Place the beef in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil for 1 minute. Drain, discarding the water and rinse the pot. Return the meat to the pot and add water to cover. Add the onion, garlic, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the meat is tender, about 2 hours. Add the potatoes, corn, carrot, green beans, and herbs. Cover and boil gently about 20 minutes. Add zucchini and cook until just tender. Toss in chopped fresh cilantro and garnish with sprigs of cilantro.

While the cocido simmered I made a trip down to the basement to find the pumpkin lights and string them along the railing up the front steps. Now where can the big furry black spider be?

Walking back inside the aroma that filled the house coming from my kitchen was divine.

I also made a variation of Mexican rice to go with it (and spooned it into the broth when I had finished the meet and vegis).

2 cups chicken broth
1 cup rice
3/4 cup crushed tomato
cumin
garlic pepper
crushed red pepper to taste

Bring the chicken broth to a boil and add rice and cumin. Cook until liquid is absorbed then stir in crushed tomato, garlic pepper and red pepper and cook until heated through.

When I spooned the soup out of the pot the beef fell off the bone, it was sooooo tender. The vegis where earthy and the broth was savory. Cocido, mexican rice and a glass of Gallo red.