Italian Meatball Minestrone Soup with White Bean

By PineyCook

Ingredients

• Meatball Ingredients:
• 1 pound ground beef (85/15 ratio)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (about a 2 ounce French roll, processed in food processor)
• 2 small garlic cloves (or 1 large), pressed through garlic press
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• Soup Ingredients:
• Olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 1 large zucchini, diced
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dry oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Pinch salt
• Pinch red pepper flakes
• 3 large cloves garlic, pressed through garlic press
• 1 (3 ounce) can tomato paste
• 5 cups beef stock, hot
• 1 (15 ounce) can navy beans (or other small white beans), drained and rinsed
• Parmesan rind chunk (optional)
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tablespoon chopped basil
• 1 1/2 cups cooked ditalini pasta (or small elbow pasta)
• Grated parmesan, for garnish

Details

Adapted from thecozyapron.com

Preparation

Step 1

-Prepare your meatballs by adding the ground beef to a large bowl; to the beef add all of the rest of the meatball ingredients, and using your hands, mix the mixture until well combined.

-Portion out about ½ ounce meatballs, and roll; chill meatballs for about 15 minutes.

-Once the meatballs have chilled, place a large soup pot over medium-high heat, and drizzle in about 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil; once the oil is hot, add in about half of the meatballs, and brown them on all sides for about 2 minutes; using a slotted spoon, remove the browned meatballs and then repeat with the remaining meatballs; set all of the browned meatballs aside for a moment.

-Into that same pot drizzle in a bit more oil if needed, and add in the onion, carrots, and celery, and saute those for about 3-4 minutes, or until they start to become slightly tender.

-Add in the zucchini, along with the Italian seasoning, dry oregano, black pepper, pinch of salt, red pepper flakes, and garlic, and stir to combine.

-Once the garlic becomes aromatic, add in the tomato paste, and cook that for about 30-45 seconds, just to cook out the raw flavor.

-Next, add back into the pot the browned meatballs, along with the white beans and the beef stock, and stir to combine; add in the parmesan rind chunk (if using), and cover the soup partially with a lid; bring the soup up to a rolling simmer, then reduce the heat to low and gently simmer the soup for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

-After 25 minutes, turn off the heat and remove the parmesan rind, if using; add in the spinach leaves, parsley, and basil, and stir; check the seasoning to see if any additional salt/pepper if needed.

-To serve, add some of the cooked pasta to a bowl, and ladle the soup over top; garnish with grated parmesan, if desired.