A modern twist on the traditional Italian wedding soup, which you don’t have to be getting married to enjoy. We first made this for our Pantry members on a cold February day, and they absolutely loved it. Juicy meatballs combined with filling orzo pasta and flavoured with aromatic dill and parsley... it’s a bowl full of comfort and joy. If you’re making this soup ahead of time, leave the orzo out, then pop it in for 10 minutes while you’re warming it up to serve. If you’re making the soup in advance or planning on freezing it, cook the orzo separately and marry with the soup just before serving.
Serves: 4 – 6
Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
500g chicken mince
85g breadcrumbs
1 egg
30g flat-leaf parsley
A pinch of garlic salt (optional)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 carrots
1.2 litres chicken stock
1 bay leaf
15g dill
140g orzo
Salt and pepper
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180 °C/Gas mark 4.
- Put the chicken mince, breadcrumbs, and egg in a large bowl. Finely chop the parsley, put half in the bowl with the chicken, and reserve the rest for later. Add a pinch of garlic salt, salt, and black pepper to the chicken and combine everything well. Shape small meatballs from the mix, roughly 1 heaped tablespoon per meatball, and place them on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. The mix should yield between 25 and 30 meatballs. Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 15 minutes until golden.
- Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Peel and cut the carrots into 1 cm dice.
- Place a large saucepan or shallow casserole pan over a medium heat. Once warm, add the oil and the chopped onion and carrot. Sauté for 10–15 minutes until they begin to caramelise, stirring often. When it’s nicely golden, add the garlic, lower the heat to medium, and sauté for a minute longer or until fragrant. Finely chop the dill and set aside.
- Once the meatballs are out of the oven, add them to the pan with the softened veg and pour in the stock. Season with salt and pepper. Add three quarters of the chopped dill, the bay leaf, and half of the remaining parsley. Reserve the rest of the chopped herbs for garnish.
- Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in the orzo and cook for another 10–12 minutes until tender. Serve garnished with the reserved parsley and chopped dill.
Recipe adapted from: Soup for Good (published by Cook for Good) available on amazon and cookforgood
