Delicious and healthy foods are often not the same in our modern world, but let me tell about one of my favorite dishes that is exactly that – delicious and healthy. It’s loaded with vitamins and is low sugar, low carb, paleo friendly, gluten free, and so on and so forth. It’s a miracle dish. It’s my adaptation of the Georgian dish that goes by a simple name of Beef Tenderloin with Eggplants. The name is somewhat misleading as there is a whole slew of other vegetables and herbs in this dish, such as tomatoes, sweet peppers, onions, parsley, coriander and other. Originally, this dish has less liquid and is served as the main dish with a side, or simply as thick soup. My adaptation has a little more liquid and is intended to be served as soup. I really think it’s the best that way. The broth has this delightful sweetness from red peppers and onions, complimented by slight acidity from the tomatoes – you just can’t stop eating it. It’s amazingly delicious for such a low calorie and healthy soup.
In this soup beef tenderloin is sliced into 1/2 inch slices and is layered with other vegetables and greens. Preparation and layering takes a tiny bit of effort but is so worth it. Set up this way, the meat and each of the vegetables will cook as intended and flavors will properly distribute throughout the dish.
In the original recipe a cup of plain water is added to prevent the bottom layer from sticking to the pot, but I find that two cups of good quality beef broth makes this dish much, much better. You can make your own broth, or use a good quality store-bought one. When I am short on time I use McCormick brand beef broth that uses all natural ingredients, has only 30 calories per cube and tastes very good.
Cooking should be done over very low heat with the lid on. You want a very gentle simmer going. The dish is done after about an hour or so, once vegetables are tender. If you like a little bit of crunch in your veggies you may want to reduce the cooking time. It’s all a matter of personal taste.
