MIni Meatball Pastina-Ish Soup (Edit recipe)

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Here's the sitch; I wanted meatballs, was craving soup, and had never actually made pastina, so an Italian Wedding - Pastina fusion came to be. Cute little Beyond Meat meatballs, vegetable soup with creamy, blended veggies, grana padano, heat, and tiny little noods. So comforting.

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PREP TIME

30 minutes

COOK TIME

40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

30

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Meatballs

340 grams Plant-Based Ground Beef - Beyond Meat
1 pieces Bread, Sourdough, whole wheat, white, whatever works
2 Tbsp Milk, 2%, enough to soak the bread.
1 whole Egg, Large, Free-Range & Organic, local is best!
2 cloves Garlic, crushed & minced / pressed
3 Tbsp Parsley, chopped
1 tsp Basil, Dried
.5 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
.5 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt
1 whole Black Peppercorns, Ground Fresh, To Taste

Soup

3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter, Unsalted
1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
5 cloves Garlic, crushed & minced
1 whole Yellow Onion, diced
1 whole Shallot, diced
4 whole Celery, diced
2 whole Carrots, diced
1 whole Orange Bell Pepper, diced
1 cup White Wine, I used Pinto Grigio
4 cup Vegetable Broth, I used Pres Choice Plant Based Chik'n Broth
2 cup Water
1 whole Parmesan Rind, or any hard cheese rind
.75 cup Pasta, Small Noods - Orzo, Stelline etc
0.666 cup Grana Padano Cheese
3 Tbsp Parsley, chopped
.5 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt, More To Taste
1 whole Black Peppercorns, Ground Fresh, See Recipe

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Process

Cook Mode

Note, these instructions are written assuming the standard serving size, since you have modified the number of servings, these steps may need to be modified for best results

Meatballs - Add the bread to a mixing bowl followed by a splash or two of milk. Work the milk and bread together and let it sit together a couple of minutes before adding everything else and mixing together until combined. Using a teaspoon measure, scoop the mixture on to your cutting board until it's all gone and you've got between 45 - 50 meaty piles. Line a baking sheet with parchment and roll each pile in to a mini meatball, setting them on to the tray as you complete them. Once finished, cover and set aside.
Soup - Begin heating the EVOO, butter, garlic, and pepper flakes in a large pot set to just below medium. Once heated, let everything sizzle together for about 45 seconds before adding the shallot, onion, carrot, celery, bell pepper, and a generous pinch of both salt & pepper. Stir and cook 8 - 10 minutes until veggies are mostly soft. If you notice browning, reduce the temp in your pot a touch. Pour in the wine along with another good pinch of both salt & pep, and let that simmer off until mostly reduced before adding the broth and water. Bring the soup to a boil and once boiled, add the cheese rind and half teaspoon salt. Cover with a tilted lid, reduce to a simmer, and let that cook about 25 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 425. Once preheated, get your meatballs in to the oven to bake. Let them cook about 7 minutes, flip, and continue another 7 - 10 until fully cooked with some browning on the outside. Set them on to a wire cooling rack and cover them until your soup is ready for the meatballs.
Back to the soup, after the 25 minutes, use a slotted spoon and scoop all of the veggies in to your vortex blender. Watch out for the cheese rind! Alternately, you could scoop the veg in to a bowl and puree using an immersion blender. Blend until smooth and return this thick veggie mixture back in to the soup. Bring the soup back to temperature / simmering before stirring in your pasta. Cook according to package directions or until tender. Stir in the meatballs while the pasta cooks to bring those back to temp. Once your pasta is cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the grana padano and parsley. Pluck out the cheese rind, taste your soup, and adjust salt if needed / desired.
Serve each bowl garnished with heaps of grana padano and fresh parsley. ENJOY!

Notes

When it comes to the pasta shape, you don't want anything larger than orzo.
When I ate the soup, the meatballs were super tender and lovely. However, if you'd like them to retain much more texture, fold them in right at the end and let them come to temp immediately prior to serving.
GARNISH - Fresh Parsley, Grana Padano, Pepper Flakes

NOODS - If you cook the noods in the broth, they're inevitably going to keep bloating. Make sure you're serving the entire batch, or close to it. If you have leftovers, I LOVED it nice and thick, but you could thin it out with broth when reheating.
Alternately, cook them separately and fold them in at the end just until warm which would keep their texture better.

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About This Recipe

Show nutritional information

This is our estimate based on online research.
Calories:	743
Fat:	42 g
Carbohydrates:	38 g
Protein:	61 g
Cholesterol:	53 g
Sodium:	2477 mg
Fiber:	6 g
Sugars:	7 g
Sugar Alcohol:	0 g
Calculated per serving.