Description
This is a delicious rich soup that will need a longer cooking time then most soups and tastes even better the next day it's really a meal in itself, i serve it with garlic bread on the side — to save some time prepare the meatballs up to a day ahead, the meatball mixture may be doubled if desired, if you don't use all the meatballs then freeze for another time and just drop them into the soup frozen — 1/4 to 1/3 cup dry red wine may be added to the soup 🙂
Ingredients
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Onions
- Dried Oregano
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
- Celery
- Carrots
- Tomato Paste
- Chicken Broth
- Tomato Sauce
- Kidney Beans
- Green Beans
- Fresh Spinach
- Zucchini
- Cooked Small Shell Pasta
- Parmesan Cheese
- Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- Extra Lean Ground Beef
- Garlic Cloves
- Green Onion
- Egg
- Dry Breadcrumbs
- Seasoning Salt
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- For the meatballs
- In a bowl combine all ingredients until blended
- Shape into 3 / 4-inch balls
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to add to the soup
- In a large pot heat olive oil over medium-high heat
- Add in garlic and saute for 2 minutes
- Add in onions, dried oregano and crushed chili flakes
- Saute for about 4 minutes, stirring
- Add in celery, carrots and tomato paste
- Saute stirring for 2-3 minutes stirring with a wooden spoon
- Add in chicken broth, tomato sauce, kidney beans, green beans, spinach leaves and zucchini
- Return to a boil
- Add in uncooked meatballs
- Bring to a simmer
- Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 1-1 / 2 to 2 hours
- Add in cooked pasta and 1 / 3 to 1 / 2 cup parmesan cheese
- Stir to heat through
- Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with more parmesan cheese