Greens, Orzo and Meatball Soup
Total Time
40 minutes
Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars
(250)
Ingredients
4 servings
- Meatballs
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs
- 12 ounces ground turkey
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Assembly
- 8 cups (or more) low-salt chicken broth
- 1 cup chopped peeled carrots
- 3/4 cup (about 4.75 ounces or 135 grams) orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
- 4 cups coarsely chopped escarole (about 1/2 medium head), swiss chard, kale or baby spinach (about 3 ounces of leaves)
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Preparation
Step 1
Make meatballs: Whisk egg and 2 tablespoons water in medium bowl to blend. Mix in breadcrumbs; let stand one minute. Add turkey, parmesan cheese, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper; gently stir to blend. Using wet hands, shape turkey mixture into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on baking sheet; chill while you prepare the next steps, or 30 minutes, if you have the time.
Step 2
Assemble the soup: Bring chicken broth to a boil in large (4 to 5-quart) pot. Add carrots and orzo; reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered 8 minutes. Add turkey meatballs and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in chopped greens and simmer until turkey meatballs, orzo, and escarole are tender, about 5 minutes longer. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.
Step 3
Ladle soup into bowls and serve.
Step 4
Do ahead: This can be made 2 hours ahead. Rewarm over medium heat, thinning with more broth if needed or desired. Leftovers go over well in thermoses for lunch the next day.
Step 5
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Chef's notes
Originally written for escarole as the greens, while it works here, more often than not we use baby spinach, kale or Swiss chard greens instead; I’ve updated the title to note this.
If using a more tender green (baby spinach or chard), a few leaves could be well-chopped to replace the 2 tablespoons parsley in the meatballs, should you not already have parsley around.
We always serve it with extra parmesan on top.
