by Ben Segueda, Executive Chef, Brody Square and Heritage Commons at Landon
Ingredients:
- ½ whole medium onion, diced
- 2 medium Roma tomatoes, diced
- ¼ medium green pepper, diced
- ⅓ cup tomato sauce
- ½ tsp. peppercorn
- ½ tsp. cumin seeds
- 3 medium garlic cloves
- 1 serrano pepper
- 1 tsp. caldo de pollo
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 5 oz. spaghetti, broken into ½-inch pieces
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp. of chopped cilantro
- Vegetable or olive oil
Instructions:
- Add oil to a large sauté pan and place on medium-high heat. Once the oil starts to simmer, add the ½-inch pieces of spaghetti. Pan-fry them until they start to get light brown with several dark spots. Take them off the stove. Place them onto a plate with paper to stop the cooking process and drain excess oil.
- Place a small sauté pan on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add cumin seed and whole peppercorns to the pan and toast them until they are fragrant. Be careful not to burn them.
- Take the cumin seed and peppercorns off the stove and put them into a spice grinder. Grind the spices down to powder and put them into a heat-resistant bowl.
- Next, mince the garlic. Once it’s minced, add salt and run a knife over the salt and garlic mixture to create a paste. Then add the paste to the bowl of ground spices. Add boiling water to the mixture and let it steep. Set it aside.
- In a stock pot add a little bit of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the meat and start to break it down while stirring.
- Once the meat starts to brown add diced onion and cook until the onions become translucent. Then add diced green peppers and diced tomatoes. Sauté the mixture until it’s soft. Add the cumin, peppercorn, and garlic mixture to the pot liquid, followed by the tomato sauce.
- Once it starts to simmer add in chicken stock, serrano pepper, and caldo de pollo. Let this come to a boil then add potatoes and the spaghetti noodle pieces that you fried earlier. Bring the mixture down to a simmer and cook until the potatoes and spaghetti are done, about 10 to 12 minutes. If the soup starts to get thick you can add hot water or hot broth to thin it out.
- Taste and adjust with salt and pepper and serve with a garnish of cilantro. Fresh tortillas and refried beans also go very well with this dish.