Recipes · Soups & stews
Vegetable Soup with Meatballs
AI-written · not yet kitchen-tested
The meatballs stay tender if the mixture is mixed only briefly and the balls are shaped small, about 3/4 inch (2 cm) across. They cook in the gently simmering soup, not in a rolling boil, or they break apart. The pasta cooks right in the soup.
This recipe was written with AI assistance and has not yet been kitchen-tested. Check quantities and times as you cook, and follow safe core temperatures for meat, poultry, fish and eggs.
Ingredients
- 300 g (10.5 oz) ground beef and pork half beef, half pork
- 1 egg large
- 3 tbsp plain breadcrumbs
- 0.5 onion very finely diced
- 0.5 bunch flat-leaf parsley finely chopped
- 0.5 tsp paprika sweet
- salt to taste; about 1/2 tsp
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 onion diced
- 250 g (8.8 oz) carrots peeled, sliced 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick
- 100 g (3.5 oz) celery root peeled, in 1/2-inch (1 cm) cubes
- 1.5 l (6 1/4 cup) vegetable broth hot; check the label for allergens
- 150 g (5.3 oz) leeks rinsed and sliced into rings
- 80 g (2.8 oz) small soup pasta small shape
- 100 g (3.5 oz) peas frozen
- 0.5 bunch flat-leaf parsley finely chopped, for sprinkling
- black pepper to taste
Method
- For the meatballs, mix the ground meat, egg, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, salt and paprika for only about 1 minute into a smooth mixture. Mixing longer makes tough meatballs. Chill the mixture for 10 minutes while you prepare the vegetables.
- Dice the onion, slice the carrots, dice the celery root and cut the leeks into rings. With wet hands, shape the meat mixture into about 24 balls, roughly 3/4 inch (2 cm) across.
- Heat the oil in a 4-quart (4-liter) pot over medium heat. Sweat the onion, carrots and celery root for 5 minutes, pour in the broth, bring to a boil and simmer for 8 minutes.
- Turn the heat down until the soup barely simmers. Slide in the meatballs carefully and cook for 5 minutes without stirring, at most swirl the pot. They firm up during this time.
- Add the pasta and leeks and cook for 8 minutes, the pasta according to the package. Add the peas for the last 3 minutes. Cut one meatball open: it must be cooked through and no longer pink inside.
- Season with pepper and salt if needed, divide among four bowls and sprinkle with parsley.
Tip: Fry a test meatball in a pan and taste it before shaping the rest. You don't taste raw ground meat, and without enough salt the mixture is often bland.
Tip: Work with cold ground meat and rinse your hands under cold water now and then. Warm meat smears, and the meatballs turn firm and dry.
Food safety: Always cook ground meat all the way through: the core temperature at the coldest point must reach at least 158 °F (70 °C) and be held there for at least 2 minutes; use a kitchen thermometer. Do not taste raw ground meat.