Friday, January 7, 2011

Italian Stracciatella with Mini Meatballs, Tender Cheese Tortellini and Baby Spinach

I know that sounds like a long name for a dish, but it's soooo good.  Don't let the name fool you, it's really easy to make and doesn't take too much time.  With a baby and a toddler running around, I don't have loads of time to focus on making dinner!

Since it's going to be really chilly in Iowa this weekend, I recommend making this soup and let it warm and comfort you through the cold temps.  I might just make it again, even though we had it earlier this week.  We ate it with some bread sticks and cranberry cocktail, but I think it would taste phenomenal paired with a nice glass of wine!  We reheated it today for lunch, and it was just as delicious!  To add more broth to the reheated mixture, I just added a little bit more chicken broth.

Husband rating: A-!!!  And that's coming from a guy who isn't a huge fan of soup!


Italian Stracciatella with Mini Meatballs, Tender Cheese Tortellini and Baby Spinach  **with my edits!**

Ingredients

Meatballs
  • 1 egg
  • handful parsley, finely minced
  • big pinch of Greek oregano {I used the Cavendar spice that I have}
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1/4 pound ground pork
  • 1/4 pound ground beef

Soup

  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • Mini tortellini {I just bought a pre-made kind at Wal-mart}
  • 1 egg
  • pinch sea salt
  • 1 cup fresh baby spinach
  • Parmesan cheese, freshly grated for topping
Directions

Meatballs
  1. In a bowl, combine the egg, parsley, Greek oregano, garlic, parmesan and Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. Mix together. Add the ground pork and beef and mix for a couple of seconds more until flavors are incorporated into meat, don’t over-mix. Roll into tiny balls the size of marbles.  {I just threw them into the chicken broth as I was rolling them and added the tortellini when I was done}.

Soup

  1. Bring the chicken broth to a simmer in a large pot. Throw in the mini meatballs and tortellini. Simmer for 8 minutes.
  2. In a small bowl, beat together the egg and sea salt. Slowly stream the egg into the pot while whisking the broth quickly with a fork to form stracciatella.
  3. Place a portion of the baby spinach in a soup bowl. Pour hot soup over spinach and top with freshly grated parmesan.

3 comments:

Janelle said...

need to try this. sounds yum!

Home Is Where They Send Us said...

that sounds sooooo yummy!

Jennifer said...

Making this tonight.