December 30th- Ultimate Seaweed Soup

     First and foremost I appologize for taking nearly an entire week to post. I wanted to post two days ago but I had computer trouble. It probably wont happen again in the near future.

     Soups are so often overlooked. It's not a main course and not quite as refreshing as a salad for an appetizer. But if made right, there's nothing that packs more flavor than a well built soup.
     Though I won't lie. Originally this recipe was never supposed to become a soup. I was making a broth for my steak fried quinoa, but I made the flavors to strong. It would have made my dish far to potent to eat easily, though not essentially bad tasting.
     But I'm not ashamed of a little botch in the kitchen as long as I can turn it into something equally as good. I think it's one of the things that defines a good cook. Sometimes you need to be able to bend without breaking.

     When I served this to my girlfriend, I didn't think I would be posting this recipe on the site. I have a bad habbit of looking down on soup when it really is a great food.
     In the end I'm glad she made me agree to post it. And from now on I'll try to pay more  attention to soup in general.
     The real key here is the seaweed. When added to a soup it just about doubles the flavor. I use it in all of my soups even if it's just to dip briefly and throw away.

Here's what you'll need!

5 cups water
.75 lb sirloin steak
2 tbsp Oil (I used sunflower)
2-3 scallions (cut in half)
1/4th cup White Onion
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
4 small dried shiitake mushrooms
1/3rd cubanelle pepper
1/2 tbsp salt
Several sheets of seaweed ( One for each bowl)

     The reason I call this 'Ultimate' Seaweed soup is the amount of work I put into the broth for such a simple outcome. Luxurious is a good word to describe it.
     By the way I don't expect everyone to go buy a  steak in order to make a broth. Go ahead and use bones or gristle, but come on guys, no bullion cubes. that's just taking the easy way out and it doesn't taste as good.
     If you want to make the soup bigger, you can probably add 2 cups of water without changing the flavor to much. but if you add any more than that you may want to increase the other ingredients as well.

Lets get cooking!

     Once you figure out what you're going to use for your soup, the actual process of making it isn't difficult at all.
      Add your water to a large pot and bring it to a boil. Add in all of your ingredients, in the order listed or all at once.  Let boil for 5 minute then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer covered for at least an hour.

     Now strain out your vegetables and meat, and pour your broth into bowls. Just before serving, rip up a sheet of seaweed into each one and give it a quick mix to get all of the seaweed under.

     That's really all. It isn't any more filling than a soup normally is, but its a very satisfying soup and definitely worth making for those cold winter nights.