Beef Bones Vegetable Soup ala Lady and the Tramp for Food n Flix

This month's film for Food n Flix was chosen by Elizabeth at The Lawyer's Cookbook.  Elizabeth chose the movie "Lady and the Tramp", a classic from Disney.

Food n Flix

Lady and the Tramp was first released in 1955.  That was 3 years before I was born!!  My goodness....it is a classic!!

 

Poor Lady, she finally gets over the trauma of having a baby in the house and actually decides she likes it and then her parents leave and Aunt Sarah comes to care for the baby.  Aunt Sarah, not only immediately, prevents Lady from being near her baby but had the nerve to bring two Siamese Cats to reside in the house.  Aunt Sarah completely misunderstands Lady and takes her to be muzzled.  Lady freaks out and runs away from home, finding herself away from the "collar and leash" crowd and into the land of the strays.  Lady is befriended by Tramp who has learned to be very street wise and he takes her under his wing, er paw.

Tramp is taking lady around town showing her what life is like when you are "footloose and collar free" when they end up at Tony's Ristorante and are served the spaghetti and meatballs which has turned into the scene for which this movie is known.

In typical Disney fashion, animation is used to showcase real life situtations.  In this case it is falling in love with someone from a "different class".  Tramp understands Lady's love for her family and especially for her "baby", and agrees to take her home.  Of course, on the way they end up getting into mischief and poor Lady gets picked up by the dog catcher and ends up in the "slammer".  Lady learns all about the "seedy" side of life and she learns that Tramp appears to be the resident hero of those living in the land of the strays.

Lady is rescued from the pound and finds herself relegated to the dog house, chained and alone.  One can only assume that this is the doing of Aunt Sarah and her parents have not, as yet, returned home.
Then, evil arrives, in the form of a rat, who goes to hurt the baby.  Lady tries to warn Aunt Sarah but Aunt Sarah is as dumb as the day is long so Tramp goes into the house to save the day.  During the struggle Lady breaks loose just as Tramp gets the rat away from the baby, knocking over the cradle in the meantime.

Dense Aunt Sarah calls the dog catcher on Tramp and locks poor Lady up in the cellar.  Lady's parents return just as they are taking Tramp away.  They, of course, being much smarter than Aunt Sarah, listen to Lady and save the baby from the evil rat.  Then they go and rescue Tramp and they all live happily ever after!!

At first site, you might think that the spaghetti and meatballs was the only food reference in this movie but wait.....let's look again.....

At the beginning of the movie there is a breakfast of grapefruit and coffeee.  While th emom is expecting she sends her husband out into a snowstorm to look for watermelon even though he suggests she might rather have soup.  Tramp takes Lady to the Schultz's house where you can get weiner schnitzel on Mondays and to the O'Brian's where on Tuesday you get corned beef.  Tony who owns the local restaurant, often shares bones with Tramp but on this special night serves up the spaghetti and meatballs, complete with candlelight and breadsticks.

So while there was not a ton of food portrayed there was more than originally believed.

I did not want to go with Spaghetti and Meatballs because I was pretty sure that many would, however, perhaps they think like me and there will be NO spaghetti and meatballs......time will tell.

I decided to take some of those bones that Tony was so generous with and create the soup that would have been much easier to find in the middle of a snowstorm than watermelon. I am lucky enough to get bags of beef bones when I have my cow processed but you can pick them up, very inexpensively, at the butcher. I hope you enjoy it.

Start off with nice meaty bones.

Add the vegetable scraps and water to cover.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer.

Remove strainer with solids.

Strain broth through a fine mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth

You will have a nice clear broth to which you will add your vegetables and reserved meat.

Save the bones for Lady and Tramp while you enjoy a nice hearty soup!!

Beef Bones Vegetable Soup

To make broth:

1 pkg meaty beef bones
half a carrot
onion trimmings and skin
1 stalk celery
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, smashed
5 whole pepper cloves
2 generous pinches of salt
Water to cover (I had half a box each of beef and vegetable broth in the refrigerator.  I used that and then added water to cover)

Place all ingredients in a large stock pot (large pot, fitted with a strainer).  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour or three depending on how busy you are.  It can simmer for a long time.  The flavor just gets richer and deeper as time goes on.  Remove strainer from stock pot.  Pour broth through a fine mesh seive lined with cheesecloth into a clean soup pot.  Remove any meat left on the bones and set aside.  Discard remaining bones and solids.  (Mine go to the chickens and/or pigs).

For the Soup:

1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, scraped and sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 turnips, peeled and diced (if desired-I had them in the fridge)
2 parsnips, peeled and diced (if desired-I had them in the fridge)
2 cups of any other vegetables you like (this is a great recipe to use up any bits and pieces you have left in your refrigerator.  I used up a half package of frozen mixed vegetables)

Add the vegetables to the broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to med and boil gently until vegetables are tender.  If using soft vegetables (like summer squash) or frozen vegetables (as I did) add them towards the end of the cooking time.  Add the reserved meat.  Heat through and serve.

**Note:  I served mine over cooked egg noodles for a heartier meal.  Print Recipe