PULLED FLANK STEAK BEEF SOUP IN PRESSURE COOKER

Pulled Flank Steak Beef Soup in Pressure Cooker image

A winter beef soup with lots of flavor. This is a soup, not a stew, that is easily thrown together in your electric pressure cooker. The pressure cooking time is 30 min plus 15 min of natural steam release. My family and I loved it so much that we each had 2 bowls. Really this produces more servings, but since folks will...

Provided by Sanity Chek

Time 1h20m

Number Of Ingredients 24

Ingredients

1 lb flank steak (even 3/4 lb is fine)
1 Tbsp olive oil
6 c vegetable broth
1/2 c cream or dry sherry (real sherry, not cooking sherry)
4 large carrots, peeled & sliced
4 large fresh garlic cloves chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped small
1 tsp peppercorns, whole black
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced small
1 tsp sea or kosher salt
4-5 sprig(s) fresh thyme
1/2 Tbsp ground pepper
3 stalk(s) celery, sliced small
5 stalk(s) green onions, sliced - both green and white parts. (5 small stalks or 3 large)
2 bay leaves
16 oz button mushroom, stems removed, sliced
2 Tbsp olive oil, additional for sauteing mushrooms
1 Tbsp fresh dill, or 1/2 tsp dried
1/2 c peas, raw or frozen
2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 pinch ground nutmeg
2 tsp corn starch or flour for thickening
1/4 c cold water for flour/cornstarch
1 c or 1 large handful of large flat italian soup noodles or bowtie or egg noodles

Steps:

1. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to inner pot of electric pressure cooker. Saute the whole flank steak on high for a couple minutes on each side so that it is browned well. Don't cut into pieces at this time.
2. Add 6 cups of veggie broth, 1/2 cup sherry, carrots, potatoes, salt, pepper, bay leaves, potatoes, celery, peppercorns, garlic, chopped onions, chopped green onions and 4-5 whole sprigs of thyme . Set aside. Note, you aren't adding the nutmeg, worcestershire dill or peas until after the pressure cooking step.
3. Clean, slice, and quick saute in 2 tbsps of olive oil the mushrooms separately in a frying pan. Goal is to soften them up and give them a golden hint. 3-4 minutes is fine. They will finish cooking thoroughly in pressure cooker but this give a nice appearance in the soup. And the quantity will shrink while cooking, as expected. Toss into the pressure cooker with everything else in step 2.
4. Seal your pressure cooker and cook on high for 30 minutes. Allow for a natural release of steam for an additional 15 minutes.
5. While that's cookin', Boil the pasta of your choice in hot salted water with a little olive oil until Al Dente. I use an italian pasta that is a 1" by 2" rectangle when cooked. Bowtie pasta or large egg noodles are a fine alternative. Drain and set aside to add to your soup as the very last step, Note that you don't want too many noodles, because they grow in size. 1 cup or 1 large handful of DRY is more than enough. If you have too many noodles, your soup broth will get sucked up into the noodles.
6. Open your pressure cooker and remove the bay leaves, the remains of the sprigs of thyme. Your pressure cooker should be on WARM at this time. Take out the flank steak and pull it apart with two forks. Cut the strings of steak in half as well. Toss back into pressure cooker.
7. Add raw or frozen peas, worcestershire sauce, pinch of nutmeg, and the fresh chopped dill to the soup. (I didn't have peas, so I used frozen edamame. Can also use lima beans as an alternative. Basically you want some color. )
8. Add the cornstarch or flour to 1/4 cup of cold water and stir to dissolve. (I prefer cornstarch) Then add to the soup mixture that is still warming in the pressure cooker. In non-pressure mode: turn the soup up from WARM to SAUTE or HI Heat mode to get the soup boiling for a minute or two so that the flour or cornstarch thickens it up a bit. Only do this for a few minutes max. Then put your soup back on WARM mode.
9. Add your drained noodles to the soup. If you need more "broth" in your soup, adjust the liquids now to your liking. Cover the soup and let sit on WARM covered for 15-20 min so all the final additional ingredients added after pressure cooking have a chance to meld together with the other ingredients. Then serve! Serve with soup crackers.