Meatball Soup

This is tasty stuff even if the concept seemed a bit odd at first. Then Italian Wedding Soup came to mind and, since I adore that, I figured this one should be pretty darned tasty. Turns out it is. It can be a simple as you want or as complex as your ability and imagination allow. I like something in the middle. Besides, even though I will agree that fresh pasta is the best, I'm too lazy to make it. If you like, add carrots and celery and green beans to the soup. A Parmesan rind would be a nice addition, too. It's all good.

Let's get started...

48 ounces canned tomatoes or the equivalent in peeled fresh tomato royale
1 large red onion, medium dice (half for the soup, half for the meatballs)
3 garlic cloves, minced (2 for the soup, 1 for the meatballs)
1/4 cup green and red bell peppers, fine chop (optional)
Anise, thyme, basil, red pepper flakes and oregano to taste
bay leaf
2 cups beef stock (more if needed to thin soup)
2 cups water


Put all that stuff (minus the bits for the meatballs) in a medium stock pot. Stir it up well, bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.

I just put mine on at noon for a meal that will be this evening around 6 p.m. This is what it looks like at this point:


During the course of the afternoon, I will check and stir this every half hour or so. If needed, I will add more beef stock. Water would do fine, as well. Come to think of it, if I had a half cup or so of a dry red or white wine, I think I would put it in around now, after an hour at simmer.

Sometime during the afternoon, or 45 minutes or so before serving time, combine:

1 pound ground beef
1 pound italian pork sausage
1 cup breadcrumbs (soft, not dry)**
remaining half onion
remaining garlic
2 eggs
herbs as desired
4 T grated parmesan cheese (please don't use that nasty stuff in the boxes from the market. ugh)
snipped parsley to taste
dash ground black pepper

Mix all this stuff together well. Do the "pitcher's toss" to form your meatballs, cover and set aside until 30 minutes before serving.

I didn't use ground beef, I ground up a pound of stew meat, alternating the beef with pork sausage, onions, garlic and the bread crumbs. Ground everything up and mixed it pretty well at the same time. This is the freshly ground goodness:


(Please forgive the bad photos. One of the kids has my Nikon so am using the backup, a small Kodak.)

Brown the meatballs* well, remove from pan and drain them. Set aside.

Bring the soup up to a boil. Add:

1 cup tiny pasta (or your choice of small starch)
15 ounces cannelini or other white bean (I'm using pearl barley because I have some but no beans)
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms (use canned if you want)

Cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is done as you like. Return heat to medium-high and add:

cooked meatballs
3 cups fresh spinach torn into pieces (if using frozen, drain in the morning and let sit. Squeeze well and rip up before adding. Canned spinach doesn't work well but if it's what you have, go ahead. My only problem is that it usually has big stems and seems to be bitter.)

Cook for another few minutes to heat meatballs through and wilt the fresh spinach or heat the frozen through.

That's it. If you want, put everything but the meatballs and spinach in your slow cooker. The pasta should be fine. If you don't like that idea, cook your pasta separately when you are cooking your meatballs, then add those and the spinach at the very end. Will work just fine.

* The way I like to do this is in a 350°F oven on a parchment or foil lined baking pan. They don't burn nor get rubbery that way and it saves standing at the stove pushing the meatballs around.
** Had a bit of a problem with the crumbs. Only bread in the cupboard was that awful chewey white junk Himself likes. So? Had a loaf of homemade sundried tomato and rosemary bread. Thawed part of it, crumble and? voila! Kicker bread crumbs. yum!


Coming soon... Cassoulet with confit de canard from a friend in France.