Spaghett and Meatball Soup (ATK)

• doses: 6

Ingredientes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 red onion, chopped coarse

1 carrot, peeled and chopped coarse

3 garlic cloves, minced

5 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes

½ pound ground chicken

1/3 cup pesto, plus extra for serving

1/3 cup plain bread crumbs

Salt and pepper

2 cups ditalini pasta

Grated Parmesan cheese

Instruções

1. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and carrot and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in broth and tomatoes. Bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrot softens, 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, mix chicken, pesto, bread crumbs, 14 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper together in large bowl. Use heaping teaspoon to form mixture into forty ¾-inch meatballs.

3. Strain soup into large bowl and rinse out pot. Transfer solids in strainer to blender with 1 cup strained liquid and puree until smooth. Return pureed mixture and remaining strained liquid to pot and heat until simmering. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Add pasta and meatballs and simmer until pasta is al dente and meatballs are cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with dollops of additional pesto and grated Parmesan.

Notas

Could we take the flavors of spaghetti and meatballs and turn them into a quick soup?

Spaghetti and meatballs are a family favorite for everyone except the cook. It takes a lot of work to make tomato sauce, shape and fry meatballs, cook pasta, and then wash all those bowls and pots. Could I reproduce the flavors of this dish in a single pot, minimizing the number of ingredients and the hassle? I thought a quick tomato soup (in which I simmered the meatballs and pasta might answer the call. For the soup, I followed the outlines of my favorite simple tomato soup recipe, sauteing onions, carrots, and garlic in olive oil and then simmering them in chicken broth and canned tomatoes. Once the solids were tender, I strained them out and processed them in a blender with just a splash of the soup liquid to eliminate the need for multiple batches of pureeing. For the meatballs, I took a very simple approach. Instead of mixing the meat with a laundry list of seasonings and binders, I substituted pesto (yes, store-bought is OK). Pesto has many of the same ingredients that are typically added to meatballs-cheese, herbs, and garlic-but requires no mincing or grating. I also switched the traditional ground beef to ground chicken, which made the flavor of the pesto more pronounced, made the meatballs lighter, and made the soup less greasy. And you can forget about taking the trouble to brown the meatballs; they can poach directly in the soup. Spaghetti, even when broken into small pieces, is too difficult to scoop up with a spoon. Ditalini, a small tubular pasta, is a better alternative. If the pasta sits in the soup too long, it absorbs excess liquid and makes the broth too thick. If you're not eating the soup right away, or if you won't finish the pot in one sitting, it's best to cook the pasta separately and add it to the soup just before serving. -Eva Katz

Use any small, bite-sized pasta in this recipe.