Noodle Vegetable Soup with Meatballs

Ingredients

• 2 slices of toast bread (from yesterday)
• 5 tbsp heavy cream (at least 30% fat content)
• 1 clove garlic
• 400 g mixed ground meat
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• 0.5 tbsp chopped rosemary
• lemon zest
• breadcrumbs (as needed)
• Salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 large onion
• 200 g leeks
• 150 g Carrots
• 100 g zucchini
• 1 tbsp Sunflower oil
• 800 ml vegetable broth
• 200 g pasta (e.g., Castellane noodles)
• ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley (for garnish)

Instructions

1. 1.

   For the meatballs, soak the toast bread in the cream and let it soften briefly. Peel and finely chop the garlic clove. Mix the ground meat with the egg, garlic, soaked bread, parsley, rosemary, and lemon zest until well combined. If the mixture is too soft, add a little more breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper and knead into a firm dough. Shape small balls from the mixture. Heat butter in a pan and sear the meatballs on all sides for about 3 minutes per portion. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

2. 2.

   For the soup, peel and finely dice the onion. Clean the leeks, halve them, wash thoroughly, then slice into ~1 cm thick rounds. Wash carrots and zucchini; peel the carrots and cut both with the zucchini into ~1 cm thick slices. In a pot, sauté the onion in sunflower oil until translucent. Add the vegetables and cook for about 3 minutes more. Pour in the vegetable broth and simmer for about 10 minutes.

3. 3.

   Meanwhile, cook the pasta in plenty of salted water until al dente. Drain and set aside. Add the meatballs to the soup and let them simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. When finished, add the cooked pasta and season with salt, pepper, and ground nutmeg. Serve in soup bowls garnished with chopped parsley.