John Graham Writing, Niman Ranch, California food writing, tomato soup, oregano, beef soup, parsley, David Gaysons, lycopene

Cluster Tomato Beef Chunk
Oregano Soup
with Heaping Parsley

BY JOHN GRAHAM

"Talk of joy: there may be things better
than beef stew and baked potatoes
and home-made bread—there may be.”
— David Gaysons,
Popular American Essayist,
1870-1946

THOUGHTS on HOW to MAKE A LARGE POT
on A COLD DAY or SUMMER DAY
that SATISFIES the HEART.
GET AS MUCH NON-HORMONE, NON-STEROID Niman-Ranch style stewing beef chunks as you like. (Note: One should feel free to buy hormone-, steroid-administered beef from any of the regular grocery chains. One should also feel free to have small but noticeable breasts grow on their male relatives and friends, and see their children develop pronounced brows, their daughters faint but noticeable mustaches).
Cut the beef into dimensions of your choice—one to two inch chunks suggest civility.
Take your unwatered pot, put three to four table spoons of olive oil in it. Heat it to a sizzle, then throw the beef into the pot with two or three pieces of crushed garlic, half a cup of chopped or minced green onions (using the green tails with the white heads), a quarter cup of oregano (yes, there is an oregano bias in this recipe), an enormous amount of fresh, chopped parsley (a cup sounds about right), then salt and pepper.
  Sear the beef and accoutrement for a few minutes without burning it. As the lot heats up, add a full cup of red wine to cool it off. Let it sit for a minute or so. Is it too hot yet?
Add organic cluster tomatoes that have been quartered (take one of the quarters—the one you like the best—put salt and pepper on it and eat it quickly. You are the chef, you can eat what you want. Then drink some of the wine . . . That tastes good).
  Cook the mix at high heat for a few minutes, never letting it dry out and never letting it get too hot. Then add enough water to make a big pot of soup that fits the pot without overwhelming it. Finally, turn down the heat.
  Cook the soup for about an hour, simmering it quietly, continuing to sip the wine while you read the paper or pay bills, checking the soup for taste. Occasionally whisk or muddle down the tomatoes. Try not to damage the meat. In lieu of “in pot” muddling, crush the tomatoes by hand before dropping them into the pot.

GOALS & CONSIDERATIONS
Notice that the soup has no starch added—no potato, rice or noodle. That would break down in the broth and you want a broth that is slightly clear and if not completely clear, only shrouded by the abundance of parsley, oregano and tomato, the way kelp obscures clean ocean water.
This dish is a “protein hit” with the advantage of the lycopene—an anti-oxidant—provided by the tomatoes (see “Lycopene Blurb” at the end of this recipe), and the fiber of the oregano and parsley. The garlic and onion represent proven advantages as well.
The soup can be eaten over a number of days or frozen and used again or as a base for another soup or sauce (feel free to add a starch at this time). The use of free-range meat and organic tomatoes means that the children won’t be harmed by any industry additives and the lack of starch means that the soup won’t muss up if it is not eaten right away—and you won’t get too fat.

BEVERAGE
If you are all grown up, drink red wine and water at a room temperature with this meal. If the dish is prepared in the summer, a full-bodied, strawberry-noted, prosciuto-hinted rosé night be best. Think: “Rioja” on the label. If a white wine is desired, stay in Spain, a viura grape-based wine from Rioja or thereabouts should work just fine.
  If you want to have a starch, a good bread or corn tortillas would be good with this. Never, ever use flour tortillas.
  If you serve this soup for lunch, make sure to walk in the afternoon. If you serve it for dinner, make sure to walk the next day, in the morning.
  Talk about the dish while you walk. Did the oregano balance well with the beef and tomato? The oregano should be forward in this dish—if someone complains that there is too much oregano in the dish, they should not be invited the next time it is served.
Oregano’s earthy piquant green notes should serve as treble to the substance of the parsley and round bass bottom of the beef. Although pertinent wines were earlier suggested, depending upon your palate, a lighter red wine—even Gamay Boujalais in the warm weather or a Pinot Noir—can accompany this soup. In cooler to cold climes, a nice one-hundred percent Spanish Grenache to California Cabernet could accompany the soup. In fact, never fear an Italian Brunello or one of the deeper blackberry red wines that finish with tar and hints of menthol if that is your palate (here you can lean on the fresh bread as tonic). This is, after all, the “Cluster Tomato Beef Chunk Oregano Soup with Heaping Parsley.” After this only a fresh mouthful of Earth and herbs could satisfy.

— John Graham
San Francisco, 2006

The “Lycopene Blurb”
LYCOPENE IS AN OPEN-CHAIN UNSATURATED carotenoid that imparts red colour to tomatoes, guava, rose hip, watermelon and pink grapefruit. (and V-8!)
  Lycopene is a proven antioxidant. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, which may damage the body's cells.
  Research shows that lycopene in tomatoes can be absorbed more efficiently by the body if processed into juice, sauce, paste and ketchup. The chemical form of lycopene found in tomatoes is converted by the temperature changes involved in processing to make it more easily absorbed by the body.
  In the body, lycopene is deposited in the liver, lungs, prostate gland, colon and skin. Its concentration in body tissues tends to be higher than all other carotenoids. Regular high consumption of fruits and vegetables is recommended as part of a healthy diet.