Week 151: Mediterranean Meatball Soup

Happy Thursday!!

As a small food business, I work hard to secure the freshest ingredients each week.  However, it doesn’t always work out that the grocery stores have what I need.  For instance, last week while shopping for supplies, the kale didn’t look as fresh as the baby spinach.  So while the soup write-up included kale, I went with the baby spinach.  No one commented on the change but I wanted to address why that happens sometimes. 

This week marks my 150th week of Soup(er) Delivery, thank you for all your wonderful support.  In honor of such a big event, this week’s menu will feature a customer favorite …. Meatballs!!!

On the menu for TUESDAY, JANUARY 12th is MEDITERRANEAN MEATBALL SOUP with PANE BIANCO. The Mediterranean diet is all over the news again with new year diets, so I figured we could jump on the bandwagon while happily enjoying our meatballs 😊.  These tasty meatballs are filled with fresh mint and garlic and stand out in this Mediterranean-inspired soup, flavored with fresh pomegranate juice, diced tomatoes and fennel.

The soup begins with assembling the meatballs and browning them in the oven. The meatballs are made with lean ground beef, eggs, breadcrumbs, garlic and fresh mint. Meanwhile, sliced fennel is sautéed in the pot in olive oil. Once softened, chickpeas, diced tomatoes, fresh pomegranate juice and homemade chicken stock are added. Once the soup begins to boil, the meatballs are dropped in along with chopped fresh kale. The soup is garnished with pomegranate seeds and fresh parsley.

The bread companion this week is Pane Bianco. This delicious bread is filled with sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, and fresh herbs. Not only is it a beautiful bread, it tastes fantastic served with this soup.