Nothing beats a comforting bowl of hot soup on a cold winter day. This soup has a big focus on pantry staples and is a very hearty and comforting addition to your fall and winter dinners. Serve up a bowl of this soup with a side of garlic bread or crackers for dipping.
Prep time: 30 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes Serves 8
Ingredients
1/2 lb (8 oz) ground pork
1/2 lb (8 oz) lean ground beef
1/4 cup (60 mL) breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/4 tsp (1 mL) EACH salt, pepper, dried thyme, oregano, basil and garlic powder
1 tsp (5 mL) vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp (10 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) EACH ground black pepper and dried oregano
10 cups (2.25 L) water
2 cups (500 mL) chopped frozen spinach
1 cup (250 mL) Israeli couscous
Cooking Directions
In a large bowl, mix together pork, beef, breadcrumbs, egg, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, basil and garlic powder; mix until well combined. Spoon out 1 tsp (5 mL) of the meat mixture and roll into a small meatball using your hands. Set aside on a clean plate and continue until all of the meat mixture has been used. Makes around 70 mini meatballs.
In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium heat to brown the meatballs in two batches. Place half of the meatballs in the soup pot and brown on all sides, around 2 minutes. Once meatballs are browned, set them aside on a clean plate. Repeat browning process with the remaining meatballs. Have all meatballs set aside to add back into the pot later.
In the same large soup pot you browned the meatballs in, stir in onions, carrots, garlic, salt, black pepper and oregano. Cook stirring for 5 minutes. Add browned meatballs back into the soup pot. Pour in water and bring to a boil. Stir in spinach and couscous. Simmer for 10 minutes and enjoy!
Tip: If a sort of foam builds up on top of your soup while you are bringing it to a boil this is simply excess protein from the meatballs. This is completely natural and you can feel free to mix it back in and enjoy the soup as is. What many chefs do however is skim the foam off the top of the soup as it floats to the surface.
Tip: If you don't want to make the full soup in one sitting the meatballs are easy to freeze for soup on a later date.