Make Ahead

Greens Soup With Little Meatballs

by:
December  8, 2011
4.7
3 Ratings
Greens Soup With Little Meatballs
  • Serves One big pot of soup
Author Notes

I was thinking about Italian Wedding Soup at first, but to be honest - other than wee meatballs - I am not so sure what all goes into that soup. Then we got out FTW box (Farm To Work - a CSA arrangement) and it is that GREENS time of year - gorgeous curly mustard, collards, kale, beets and turnips with tops, bok choy - so I decided to combine them with the little meatballs and a soup was born. And it was good. —aargersi

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1/2 pound ground pork
  • 1/2 pound ground veal
  • 1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (or regular milk if that's what is in the fridge)
  • a large pinch dried thyme
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil to cook the meatballs and onion
  • 1 pint chicken broth (maybe more depending how brothy you want your soup to be)
  • 1 pint marinara (I use home made that is very simple and thin, just tomatoes, garlic, basil and a little salt - avoid a super thick one with loads of stuff added
  • 1 diced carrot
  • 1 diced zucchini
  • 1/2 diced red bell pepper
  • 2 stalks diced celery
  • 1/2 diced yellow onion
  • 1 very large mixing bowl full of cleaned chopped greens - ours is a 5 quart bowl, and it was full, but they were fluffed up in there not mashed down
  • shredded parmesan to serve
Directions
  1. Make the meatballs - mix the buttermilk, breadcrumbs and thyme together. Add in both meats and some ground pepper. Gently mix - by hand is easiest - and then form small meatballs - I made mine about the size of a big .25 cent gumball. Heat the olive oil on a big skillet and brown the meatballs. You may need to do this in two batches. Remove them to a plate and set them aside. I had about 25 meatballs.
  2. Put a bit more olive oil into your soup pot. Heat to medium and sweat the onions, then add the celery and carrot. Season with a pinch of salt. Add the broth and marinara, then the peppers and zucchini and bring to a simmer. Add the meatballs and stir gently - continue to simmer. After say, 15 minutes or so, add the greens and cover (you will probably have to push down on the greens) and let that simmer until they wilt and behave themselves.
  3. Now it's just a manner of simmering until the veggies are tender and the flavors are melded, just make sure you stir gently so you don't bash up the meatballs. I also just realized I never added any garlic. Feel free to do so although it's quite good without.
  4. Serve each bowl of soup topped with a generous scoop of parmesan. Grilled bread and romaine and a glass of red wine is a good thing too.
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  • LeBec Fin
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  • aargersi
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aargersi

Recipe by: aargersi

Country living, garden to table cooking, recent beek, rescue all of the dogs, #adoptdontshop

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3 Reviews

LeBec F.
LeBec F. October 25, 2013
a, you might not read this if you don't occasionally check for comments on your recipes, but i have to really thank you. You know how you never know how much you might affect someone with a web item- because it's a big world out there? Well, last week I was newly home from an unexpected hospital stay, and i was feeling pretty down and tired. But then My Love brought up from the freezer the last package of this /your soup--that i had made last winter. I had it for lunch, and let me just say that it really helped my attitude. So thanks again and congrats on creating such a delicious and healthy dish !
 
aargersi
aargersi October 25, 2013
That's so nice of you to say - I am glad this helped brighten up your day! Perhaps I will make a pot of it this week too, in your honor :-)
 
nannydeb
nannydeb December 9, 2011
Sounds delicious! I'll use my Swiss Chard!