Sunday 31 January 2016

Meatball Soup


 
When I make this soup, which fairly often in winter, we still call it hamburger soup. The recipe originated from hamburger soup, but over the years has become its own soup. I didn't like the ground beef, so it was swapped for Italian sausage. I love marinara sauce, so the seasonings changed and the tomato soup became spaghetti sauce. Everyone needs to eat their vegetables, so the number and quantity of vegetables tripled.

The optional noodles are a nod to the tomato macaroni soup I grew up with and are great for stretching a few more bowls out of a pot, just don't get carried away or you'll end up with a casserole.

This soup freezes extremely well. We eat it a couple times and the rest is portioned into zip-lock bags and poked away in the freezer for lunches and easy suppers.

To ratchet up the comfort-food factor, serve with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Meatball Soup


1.5 tbsp oil
4 cloves garlic
1 large onion
1 large green pepper
3 medium carrots, peeled
3 stalks celery
4 small zucchinis
1 6 oz package mushrooms
1 lb Italian sausage
4 cups stock*
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 26 oz can or jar of spaghetti sauce
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1.5 tbsp Clubhouse Italian seasoning (alternate: 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tbsp dried Italian herbs)
1 tsp pepper
3 bay leaves
3 tbsp white sugar
1 cup dry pasta (optional)
 Parmesan for serving (optional)

Mince garlic and chop remaining vegetables into a one inch dice.**

In a large soup pot, add the oil and saute all the chopped vegetables except for the mushrooms and zucchinis over medium heat. When the vegetables start to soften, pinch one inch meatballs from the sausage casing into the pot. Saute until the meatballs firm up and are no longer pink. Add the mushrooms and zucchinis. Cook for five more minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally. If adding pasta, do so at the 45 minute mark. Taste, season as needed, and serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (a sprinkle of Italian breadcrumbs also works).

*I use reconstituted powdered stock, beef, chicken or vegetable, whichever one I have on hand. If you're a vegetarian, use vegetable stock and the end result of whatever tofu endures to become vegetarian Italian sausage.

**When cutting the carrots and celery into one inch chunks, cut them at a 45 degree angle, they look nicer cut this way. Eat the odd shaped ends. Trim the ends of the zucchini and cut in half lengthwise and then cut each half again lengthwise. Line up and spears and cut in one inch chunks at a 90 degree angle (zucchini doesn't hold a bias cut well with long cooking, so straight cut). Quarter the mushrooms unless they are small, then half them, if very small, leave whole. If you're in a hurry, substitute the veg with a few bags of frozen Italian veg. I haven't tried it, but I can't see why it wouldn't work.