Ingredients
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1 lb (.45kg) Ground Beefor 1/2 beef, half pork, I use 96% lean beef
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2 eggs
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1/4 cup Bread Crumbsplain, or with Italian seasoning, or Panko
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1/4 cup (grated) Parmesan Cheese
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1 tsp Italian Seasoning
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2 Garlic Cloves
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1 Onion
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2 Tbsp Olive Oilor butter
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2-3 (optional) Carrots
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3 cups Fresh Spinach
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8 cups Chicken Stock
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1 bunch Fresh Parsely
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1 cup Acini de Pepe PastaOr ditalini, or make your own - see below
Directions
Steps
1
Done
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Peel and dice the onion. Peel and mince the garlic. In a large pot, heat the oil on medium high, then saute the onion and garlic for about 3-4 minutes. Add the chicken stock and let simmer on medium. (If using carrots, peel, chop, and add them with the onion and garlic. |
2
Done
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Meanwhile, make the meatballs. Combine the ground beef (I use 96% fat free, or grind my own), breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, eggs and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Form small meatballs. Add them to the soup. Cook for 10 minutes. |
3
Done
|
Add the uncooked pasta and the fresh spinach (I prefer chopping my spinach). Tip: if you can't find arincini de pepe pasta, which are teeny tiny pasta grains, you can substitute this for ditalini pasta, which resembles small rigatoni pasta. Another idea is to make your own out of spaghetti noodles. You can cut the spaghetti noodles into tiny pieces. This is quite easy to do if you make fresh spaghetti pasta yourself. Here is a very easy pasta recipe that works beautifully with this soup: How to Make The Easiest Pasta Dough from Scratch with Three Ingredients. |
4
Done
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Cook for another 10 minutes. Add chopped fresh parsely, and if desired, more salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese to taste. |