Chicken Meatballs and Vegetable Soup

Finally, with weather more typical of March in New England, it’s time to make some soup! I have been thinking about this particular recipe ever since I saw it pictured on one of my fave recipe blogs.  It reminds me of Italian Wedding Soup, with the cute little meatballs bobbing around in the broth.

I guess I could have called it “English/Irish/Danish Married With Children Soup” — but it doesn’t roll off the tongue that easily. Nor does it entice one to taste it. And this is a soup you are definitely going to want to taste.  Trust me, you know you’ve got a winner when the kids are sitting there waiting for their bowls to be filled, and are already saying, “Oh my gosh, this soup is gonna be GOOD!”  It was delicious, and worth every minute I spent mixing and rolling out the meatballs by hand. We got two solid dinners out of this and still had enough to share with the crazy lady next door my mum 🙂

Thank you, Pam, for another great recipe inspiration!

Chicken Meatballs and Vegetable Soup
Serves 8
Inspired by For the Love of Cooking

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground chicken
1 egg, beaten
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil

Soup:
8 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup small pasta (like ditalini)
1/2 Vidalia onion, chopped
2 cups baby spinach, torn
1 15-oz can corn, rinsed and drained
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped garlic
Salt & pepper to taste

1) To make the meatballs, combine all ingredients except the canola oil in a mixing bowl.  Mix thoroughly with hands until bread crumbs, spices, egg, and chicken are well combined.  Roll out each meatball to a size about half that of a golf ball. You will have 50-60 meatballs when you are done.
2) Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Working in batches, brown the meatballs on all  sides. Do not worry about them cooking all the way through — they will finish cooking in the simmering soup.  Remove from pan and let drain on paper towels.
3) For the soup, heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil over medium-high heat in a large soup pot. Add onion, carrots and celery, and saute for about 5 minutes, until carrots begin to soften and onion has turned translucent. Add garlic and saute one minute more. Add broth, spinach, corn, pasta and meatballs. Bring to a boil, then simmer slowly for 20 minutes.
4) Serve hot, garnished with grated Parmesan if desired.

Enjoy!