Thursday, February 12, 2009

Easy Does It

After a week like last week (oh and let me tell you, my kitchen woes continued on through the weekend!) I decided to fill my menu this week with some of our old favorites. Hopefully I'll have better luck.

I did try a new recipe Monday night with some success. The original is simply called "Chicken Noodle Soup" but in this week's menu I renamed it "Tortellini Soup with Chicken Meatballs" -- a more descriptive title for a lovely little soup. If you're tired of your same ol' chicken noodle soup, give this one a try. I made mine a bit different for the following reasons: 1) I didn't need 8 servings of soup 2) I didn't have fresh thyme or fresh parsley on hand, and 3) I couldn't find chicken sausage links so I just used regular chicken sausage, country style.


Our verdict: Mr. DoM and DoM Jr. loved this soup. I loved the flavor, but next time I'll make the meatballs smaller. This time I made them with a 1tsp scoop, but I think I would prefer a 1/2 tsp size meatball.


Here's what I made:


Tortellini Soup with Chicken Meatballs
4 servings

meatballs:
1/4 cup minced onion
1/2 lb chicken sausage (do not get the maple kind - apple sausage, or country style ok)
2 Tbls grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1/2 of a whisked egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

soup:
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large or 2 medium carrots, chopped
1/2 cup diced onion
1 rib celery, chopped
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried thyme
6-7 cups chicken broth (FYI: 1 can of broth = not quite 2 c.)
1/4 tsp dried parsley
1/2 of a package of cheese tortellini (I used Buitoni)
salt & pepper to taste
grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

For meatballs: In a large skillet, saute onions in olive oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine sausage, egg, onion, thyme, parsley and Parmesan. Mix gently with your hands (if you smoosh the meat too much, you'll have tough, compact meatballs). Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Heat the same skillet to medium-high heat and add a little more oil. Use a small ice cream scoop to make meatballs and drop them into the skillet. Cook meatballs until browned on all side. Remove from heat and set aside.

For soup: In a medium pot (mine is a 5.5 qt), heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bay leaf and thyme. Saute 5-7 minutes until fragrant. Add chicken broth and parsley. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Add meatballs and tortellini. Simmer until meatballs are cooked through and tortellini is done, about 5-7 minutes.

Serve. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese.

5 comments:

Robyn said...

You know something must look good when the hubby says "Hey, did you see that soup on DOM?"

Lee and Sharon said...

Just to let you know I made your soup recipe and we loved it. There was enough for our lunch today too. In fact, the second day it was even better.
mmmmm goood

The McClellan Clan said...

Okay I just made this, but I didn't have the sausage I just had ground turkey. So I did it but I had 1.25lbs so I just added whatever of the seasonings you said. Then with the rest I did about the same as yours. I'm bad at following recipes all the way. IT WAS SO GOOD!! And we are tough to please!! I want more tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next!! You get the picture!! Thank you so much for doing this blog. I LOVE IT!! I'm a huge fan. I'm so glad I found you. Thanks again
Jocelyn McClellan (jocelynmcclellan@yahoo.com)

Tina Butler said...

I have some tortellini to use up. This would be a perfect recipe. I found your site through menu plan monday. I found some good recipes. Thanks.

Tina

Gena said...

Trying this tonight, but since I couldn't find chicken sausage anywhere, I am cheating a little and using some italian chicken meatballs I found at Costco! Wish I would've read the comments sooner and taken the tip from the McClellan Clan to just use ground turkey! Regardless, can't wait for dinner tonight! Sounds so yummy!