Italian Wedding Soup with Ancient Tuscan Grain Pasta
A hearty and delicious soup made with beef and chicken meatballs browned to perfection, and Ancient Tuscan Grain Pasta.
Ingredients
Servings: 6
For the Soup:
- 1 Tbsp Batistini Farms USDA Organic 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil, or Lemon EVOO
- 1 1/4 cups Carrots, diced
- 1 large Yellow Onion, finely diced
- 3/4 cup Celery, diced, about 2 celery stalks
- 3-4 Garlic Cloves, minced
- 2 (32 fl oz) Low-Sodium Chicken Broth
- 2 cups Batistini Farms Ancient Tuscan Grain Pasta, cooked to al dente, about 8 minutes
- 2 Lemons, juiced
- 6 oz Fresh Spinach or Tuscan Kale, chopped
- Finely shredded parmesan , for serving
For the Meatballs:
- 8 oz Lean Ground Beef, or Ground Bison
- 8 oz Italian Chicken Sausage (about 4 sausages) or Italian Pork, taken out of casing
- 1/2 cup Fine Breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, chopped
- 2 tsp. Fresh. Oregano, chopped
- 1/2 cup Parmesan, finely shredded
- 1 large Egg
- 1 tsp. Black Pepper
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 tbsp. Batistini Farms USDA Organic 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions
For the Meatballs:
- Add the ground beef and chicken/pork to a large mixing bowl. Add in the bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, parmesan, egg, salt and pepper.
- Gently toss and break up mixture with your hands until well-combined. Shape mixture into very small meatballs, about 1 inch, and transfer to a large plate.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs and cook until browned, turning occasionally to brown on 2-3 sides, about 4 minutes total.
- Transfer the meatballs to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat with remaining meatballs (the meatballs won't be fully cooked at this point, but will continue to cook through later).
For the Soup:
- While meatballs are browning, heat up the remaining one tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the diced carrots, onions and celery and saute until softened, about 6 - 8 minutes. Add the garlic, the saute for one more minute, or until fragrant.
- Pour in chicken broth and lemon juice, bring to a boil, then add in pasta (already cooked to al dente, about 8 minutes) and meatballs. Reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until meatballs have cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add in the spinach / kale in the last minute of cooking.
- Serve warm with a garnishing of parmesan cheese on each serving!