Italian Meatball and Escarole Soup

dicentra's Note:

This is from my 365 Low-fat Meals cookbook. Yum! This will come together in zero time if you already have meatballs made up and stashed in the freezer. :)

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 1 egg white
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup orzo pasta
• 4 cups escarole, shredded
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine ground turkey, egg white, garlic, parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
2. Mix lightly to blend. Shape into 16 meatballs.
3. In a large soup pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Add meatballs and orzo, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 15 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.
4. Add escarole and lemon juice. Cover and simmer 5 minutes, or until escarole is tender.
5. Serve sprinkled with more Parmesan cheese.

Reviews

[kmbrly2383]

This turned out really good. I doubled the recipe- except only used 2 tbsp of lemon juice and about 4 big handfuls of spinach instead of the escarole.
I added about a tsp or so of Italian seasoning, 1 can of diced petite tomatoes & 1 can of kidney beans to the broth.
I also added a handful of italian bread crumbs to the meatballs.
Amazing recipe. Thanks for sharing- will make this again and again!

[ms_bold]

I probably shouldn't rate this recipe because I made a lot of changes, but the resulting soup was fabulous. I had a bit of ground turkey leftover and the weather was cold enough to want soup. These meatballs couldn't have been easier. I did sub fresh baby spinach for the escarole and added a can of petite diced tomatoes with the broth. I also added a can of cannellini beans (drained and rinsed) to make the soup heartier for my hardworking hubby. A handful of spiral pasta also jumped into the pot with the orzo and was seasoned with a few dashes of an Italian seasoning. Mmmmm. It was great soup on a cool, rainy, spring night.