Chicken Meatball Soup

I was inspired to make this recipe yesterday for Soup Saturday from a cookbook on my shelf called Family Entertaining by Cristine Ferrare.  This cookbook is from 1998 LOL...going through all my cookbooks has really made me feel old....I didn't realize how long I have had them!!

I guess I should have known it was from the 90's by the picture.

In the cookbook, Cristina calls this recipe Pastina con Brodo with Chicken Meatballs.  Doesn't that sound fancy??  It is just small pasta in broth with Chicken Meatballs.

In the book Cristina goes through all the steps for making your broth while cooking the chicken but I stuck with my old tried and true recipe.   Once my chicken was cooked and my broth was made, I (mostly) followed Cristina's recipe for the chicken meatballs with some slight adaptations.  I served this soup with a loaf of crusty bread and some dipping oil that we received as a Christmas gift.

Place the cooked chicken into a food processor.

Cristina used all of the chicken from a 3# bird.

I had removed most of the breast meat from a 5.5# bird to use for Tuesday's dinner before making my broth with the rest of the bird.  I think I ended up with about 2-3 c. meat when all was said and done.

Add the scallions, herbs, cheese, egg, soy sauce, and seasonings.

Process until well blended. 

It will look like a pate.

Form the mixture into small meatballs.

I ended up with 5 1/2 dozen bite sized meatballs.

It was a delicious lunch.

We received the dipping sauce from Frank's brother and his wife.

The beautiful tray and dipping bowl were a gift from his sister and her husband.

Chicken Meatball Soup

adapted from Pastina con Brodo with Chicken Meatballs by Cristina Ferrare.

4 qts. Chicken Broth

1 1/2 c. orzo or other small pasta

2 c. cooked chicken

2 scallions, chopped

1 T. fresh Italian Herbs (I used Gourmet Garden)

1 egg

1 T. soy sauce

1/2 c. Pecorin/Romano grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste (I didn't add any more salt due to the soy sauce and cheese being salty)
Chopped Parsley for garnish (I used Gourmet Garden, slightly dried)

Bring broth to boil, add pasta and boil until tender. Turn the broth to a simmer and add the chicken meatballs.  Cook at a simmer for 10 minutes or so but do not allow to boil as this will break up the meatballs.  Sprinkle the soup with chopped parsley and serve.  Print Recipe

*NOTE-Cristina's directions had you boil the pasta separately.  In the interest of saving a dirty pot and time I boiled mine in the broth.  My soup was cloudy so perhaps Cristina had a reason for boiling her pasta separately.  I am not sure because there was no photo in the cookbook.