Steak Dinner Soup with Gorgonzola Toasts

Today is definitely a soup kind of day. I was thinking about what makes a steak dinner so good and I thought of steak (obviously), potatoes, mushrooms, a side of spinach, and blue cheese dressing on my salad. Here’s that dinner, all put together in one steaming and hearty bowl. This isn’t just a great meal for a stormy night, but is also a great way to stretch a pound and a half of steak to feed four to six people.

Ingredients:

For the Soup:

Steak Seasoning (such as Chicago or Montreal style)-as much or as little as you like. I used about 2 teaspoons
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 ½ pounds flat iron or chuck steak, cut into 1 inch pieces (freezing the steak for 10 minutes before you cut it makes it so much easier to slice)
½ cup chopped onion
1/3 cup finely diced celery (1 stalk)
¼ cup finely diced carrot
1 ½ cups chopped mushrooms (cremini are nice)
1 (32 ounce) carton beef broth (about 5 cups)
2 teaspoons steak sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
1 medium russet potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid

For the toasts:
8 slices sourdough, French, or Italian bread, about ½ inch thick
Cooking spray
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola
Pinch of garlic salt
A few drops of Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons fresh chives, chopped

Directions:

Heat the oil in the bottom of a 5 quart or so Dutch oven on medium heat. Add the steak, seasoning it lightly with a few pinches of steak seasoning, and cook until nicely browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. You may want to cook the steak in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan and steam it. Remove the steak from the pot and cover with foil. Add the onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms to the pot. Sprinkle with a few more pinches of steak seasoning. Cook, stirring often, until the veggies are softened and fragrant. Add the steak pieces back into the pot. Add in the broth and steak sauce. Bring the soup up to a boil and reduce it to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 1 hour. Add in the potato cubes and simmer for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender, but not breaking apart. Taste for seasoning and add more steak seasoning and/or salt and pepper. Add in the spinach and turn off the heat. The spinach will cook right in the hot soup.

While the soup is simmering, you can make the toasts. Preheat the oven to 350 and place the bread slices on a foil lined baking sheet. Spray both sides of the toast with cooking spray and pop in the oven for 6 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, flip the bread slices over and let them rest until you’ve made the gorgonzola sauce by combining the mayo, gorgonzola, garlic salt, Worcestershire  and chives. Spread each slices with some of the gorgonzola sauce and pop the baking sheet back in the oven for 20 or so minutes, or until the cheese mixture starts to bubble up.

Spoon the soup into bowls and serve the toasts alongside for dunking.