RECIPES - HEARTY MEAT & RICE BALL SOUP

- Soup with Meatballs with Rice -

This hearty soup I made on an evening I was craving Albondigas soup but didn’t have the right ingredients. I also had a fresh loaf of Sourdough bread made that morning, so needed something to pair nicely. Given I had left over homemade tomato sauce I thought this pairing could be good. It was more then good, it was DIVINE! This will be going on our monthly recipe rotation. Easy to make and you can easily change up the ingredients to fit what you have in your fridge or freezer. Kids loved it as well which is always a plus! Happy Cooking.

INGREDIENTS

(serves 4, 4 meatballs each)

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Meatballs:

1 pound of ground beef (chicken, turkey or a vegan substitution would work)

1/2 of large onion finely chopped

1/2 cup finely shaved parmesan cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

2 large garlic cloves finely chopped or through garlic press

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes

1 egg

1/2 cup cooked rice

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Soup:

6-8 cups of broth

(I used left over chicken bone broth I had, feel free to use whatever you have-beef, vegetable, etc)

1-1/2 cup tomato sauce or canned tomatoes

1 teaspoon of red pepper (more if you like it spicier)

1/4 cup olive oil

4 celery stalks, chopped

1/2 large onion, chopped

zest of one lemon

2-3 cups of raw spinach leaves

1 zucchini cut into 1/4 slices and halved

3 green onions, top green parts only cut into 1/2” pieces

Clean Rind of Parmesan Cheese

Kosher salt & pepper to taste

- - -

Toppings & Sides:

1/4 cup of finely chopped parsley leaves

fresh grated parmesan cheese

fresh crusty bread (see recipe to follow or buy from your favorite local bakery)

room temperature butter topped with a little sea salt

Instructions:

Put all meatball ingredients into a bowl (except meat and rice) starting with the dry ingredients, then add egg. Mix meat and rice together, add rest of ingredients and mix until evenly combined. Keep in fridge until ready to use.

Heat oil on medium-high in a pot suitable for soups, I love my Le Creuset. Once warm and glistening add onions and cook briefly, not completely given it will continue to cook in the soup later. Add tomato sauce or diced tomatoes, red pepper and let simmer for a couple min.

Add broth, bring to boil before adding your meatballs. Drop them in one-by-one, add zest of lemon and finally add the rind of the parmesan cheese. Bring back to boil, cover and reduce to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Taste soup, you will need to add kosher salt and pepper to taste.

When you are about ready to serve add zucchini and fresh spinach leaves. I wait until the end for this step given they get soft quickly and I like a little bite to my zucchini. Cook for 2 minutes.

Serve in bowls, top with parmesan and parsley. Slop up all the good stuff with your crusty bread. Nothing better then a warm hearty soup. To see a quick tutorial watch my video below!