Italian Meatball Soup
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
The Italian Meatball
- 1 pound ground venison (about two cups)
- ¼ pound ground pork
- ½ cup onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 tsp fresh oregano, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley leaves, minced
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
The Soup
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp dried basil leaves
- 1 quart plus 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, stems removed
- salt and pepper
- freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, and mix well (preferably with your hands).
- Divide the mixture into 4 fairly equal portions. Each portion should yield 12 to 15 equal-sized meatballs. Roll them as firmly as possible.
- Place the meatballs on a lightly greased baking pan, and place in the preheated oven for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Rotate meatballs to brown evenly, and remove from oven to cool
Soup
- Heat olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat.
- Add onion, celery, garlic, carrot, red pepper flakes and basil leaves, and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add broth and diced tomato, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add meatballs to soup, and simmer for 5 minutes more.
- Add spinach leaves, and simmer for 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- To serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with cheese.