Grandma Margaret's Hamburger and Macaroni Soup

This is one of my all-time favorite soups. At present, a favorite meal. Always comforting, satisfying, and tasty! Super easy and inexpensive to make. This recipe will last me almost an entire week, dinner every night, and I never get tired of it. It's not a soup I grew up with, though. My mom never made these goulashe-type soups, and I don't remember either of my grandmothers doing so, either. This is close to a recipe I had at Brownie Day Camp one year when I was a child, where it was cooked over a camp fire. Remembering that soup, I looked around for the recipe sometime around 2015 or so. What I found were various recipes by Native American folks, calling thing like "Rez Macaroni Soup." This recipe is how I've developed it, to my taste, over the years. ​
Ingredients
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 12 oz package frozen corn (you could use fresh if you have it) 
  • About 6 oz frozen or fresh chopped collard greens, or other leafy greens (optional)
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots, more or less (2 or 3 medium)
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, smashed or minced
  • Beef Bone Broth -- Here's what I use: One 16.2 oz Kettle & Fire Classic Beef Bone Broth + one 32 oz regular beef broth (around here I get Full Circle Organic). But, if you want to spend the money you could use three of the Kettle & Fire beef bone broths and that would probably be fabulous
  • 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, broken up by squeezing them into the pot
  • A dash of Worcestershire sauce (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar (optional)
  • 1-2 teaspoons chopped marjoram (or 1 teaspoon dried)
  • 1 large or two small bay leaves
  • Salt and pepper (freshly ground black pepper if you have it)
  • Sometimes I add okra, when I have it!
For cooking separately, then adding to each bowl
  • 1 1/4 cups (5.6 oz) dry small elbow pasta (we call it macaroni)
​
Method

Here are the very simplified instructions:
I make this by browning the onion and hamburger more or less together (onion first), adding the garlic, then adding tomatoes, then the other veg and herbs, and last the broths. Cook the macaroni separately and add to each individual bowl. I salt a little at each layer, to build the flavor, being careful not to over-salt of course. Then I usually put it in the slow cooker all day or overnight. I have noticed that there is a point that's reached, if I slow cook it too long, where it's overdone. I haven't pinpointed that time, but I will say that 8-10 hours in the slow cooker seems to be about perfect, but this will depend on your cooker. Under-simmered is also not ideal. So, if I need to cook it overnight I'll take it off the heat in the morning, put it in the fridge, then reheat it for dinner. But you don't have to use a slow cooker. If using a bog soup pot, just let it simmer for at least 4 hours on the stove, making sure it doesn't get too dry. If cooking on the stovetop, you can either have an extra bone broth to add if there's evaporation, or use water. 

I do this all in one big pot. 

Here are the more detailed, step-by-step instructions:

  1. Rinse the corn in a mesh strainer to get any ice off, and start it thawing; set aside
  2. Chop your onion, carrots, greens (if using) and garlic
  3. Heat up a big soup pot to medium.
  4. Add the oil to the pot.
  5. Add the onion, lightly salt  and pepper it, cook to translucent stage
  6. Add the hamburger and brown it gently, stirring, lightly salting toward the end
  7. Add the garlic just before the hamburger is totally done
  8. Add and stir in the marjoram
  9. Add the corn, stirring (and okra if you're using it)
  10. At this point you should have some fond developing on the bottom of the pan (brown bits) -- add a little bone broth to deglaze the pan, scarping those tasty fond bits into the mix so you don't lose that concentrated flavor!
  11. Add the smushed canned tomatoes and all the juice in the can, then let that caramelize a little, stirring, before adding the broth.
  12. Add your dash of Worcestershire, if using
  13. Now add all the bone broth, and give it all a good stir
  14. Cook for at least 4 hours (though I like 8), stirring occasionally, and adding water if it gets too thick. I often transfer it to a slow cooker for a few hours once it's all together, and this is the point at which you'd do so, if you wanted to. 

    Cook the pasta separately! 
  15. When it's close to time to eat, cook your macaroni in salted water.

    To Serve:
  16. Put about a cup of macaroni in each bowl.
  17. Ladle the soup over it.
  18. I love to have this soup with fresh bread, cold butter (slightly softened), and a dash or two of hot sauce. Also, I love to sprinkle a little Nutritional Yeast on top of the buttered bread (which obviously is optional).
To Store:
I store the leftover noodles separately from the soup. To serve, I just put some cold noodles in my bowl, then ladle the reheated hot soup over them, which seems to warm the noodles up just fine.

​NOTE: If I'm using the slow cooker, I go ahead and turn it on low, and put in about 1/2 cup of bone broth, just to have it be warm and ready for the soup.

NOTE: By adding the vegetables one at time, slowly, and letting each one contact the bottom of the pan for a bit while stirring, the intention is to develop the flavor by very lightly caramelizing each layer. Sometimes, if I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll roast the vegetables in the oven first -- not essential, but a fun variation. 

NOTE: To me, this just isn't the same soup at all without the corn and carrots. They're essential. The bone broth also makes a huge difference. The greens are optional, but I like them.

NOTE: I've tried messing with it by adding things like mushrooms or green peppers, but did NOT like the result. This is the recipe and method I've come to after years of experimenting and tweaking.

NOTE: It's not the same without bone broth. Bone broth has a silkiness and depth of flavor that you just don't get with regular broth.