Ever since I saw the Barefoot Contessa episode where Ina garten made chicken matzo ball soup, I’ve been wanting to create my own interpretation of the soup. I’ve never made matzo balls, and have rarely eaten them so I didn’t crave it as much. However, a local grocery had ground chicken go on sale, so I figured I’d make “mock” matzo balls with ground chicken!
Being a huge fan of fresh herbs that I am, I chopped up a heaping mound of parsley for my meatballs. I wanted to see the pretty specks of green inside the meatballs and also lighten up the dish. I also would have used more red pepper flakes, but since Matt isn’t a big fan of spicy or any “loud” dishes- I figured I could always add more onto my individual bowl of soup later on.
This soup is so light and healthy where not only you get a good amount of protein but a lot of vegetables as well! Looking to sneak in as much fruits and vegetables as I can in my daily diet, this soup definitely hit the jackpot for me. And for the meat-loving, anti-health food peeps? Well Matt loved it, so why shouldn’t they?
Although tiny tedious steps make this soup seem complicated, it’s fairly simple. To be honest, anyone should be able to wing it without a recipe, because after all it’s almost like throwing any vegetables you got on hand into the pot and cooking them in good *chicken stock!
One of the best chicken soup I have ever had was made by my friend Angeles who now lives in Leon, Mexico. It was with a fairly light broth since she only used the drumsticks to make the soup. In hers, she would put whole corn on the cob to nibble on after the soup is finished. Her soup, along with other awesome Mexican soups such as posole and caldo de camarones (shrimp soup), is what taught me to garnish my soups with finely diced raw onions and a squeeze of lime. Depending on the herbs that is in the soup, I’d often throw in freshly chopped cilantro as well. It kind of reminds me of the tangy Filipino soup of sinigang, and the lime together with the onion cuts down any fattiness the soup may have. Did I mention the freshness and the crunchiness of the raw onion that gives such a textural balance? Now, how’s that for a culinary sentence, huh?
*I make my own chicken stock whenever I make roast chicken. I admire those who prefer and have the leisure to make chicken stocks with whole chickens, but I have neither the money nor the time for that these days. I usually throw in the carcass of the chicken once everything is served from the roast, throw in a couple of garlic gloves, dried thyme (or any herbs used to roast the chicken), a couple of stalks of celery, and a half an onion into the pot and boil with a good amount of water. I boil it for about two days, not consecutively but during the time I am actually home over those two days. The step is simple, and it comes from my mom’s Korean Oxtail soup making technique- Add water boil, skim fat, reduce and repeat until you get the beautiful golden liquid that smells better than anything you can buy from the store!
Chicken Meatballs (for about 24 small meatballs)
- 1-2 lb ground chicken
- 1-2 lb ground chicken
- 1/3 cup freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
- 1 extra large egg
- 11/2tsp salt
- 1 tsp each of ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder
- a bit of flour for light dredging
Soup
- pan seared chicken meatballs
- 5-6 cups of chicken stock
- 1 medium/large shallot OR 1/2 medium yellow onion
- 3 celery stalks
- 1 cup baby carrots (otherwise use whatever kind of carrots you have)
- 2 plum tomatoes
- 1 green zucchini
- 1 cup thawed frozen corn (if you have the time and the patience, go ahead and take advantage of the fresh sweet corn!)
Chicken Meatballs
Mix the chopped parsley, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder.
Add the ground chicken and the egg to the mixture.
Lightly mix/fluff the mixture with a fork to make sure that the seasoning is well-distributed.
The mixture tends to be on the wet side, so carefully form meatballs to your desired size.
I make mine mini so that it’s not too much bigger than the vegetables in the soup. If you wanted to serve the meatballs with pasta or for sandwiches, go ahead and make bigger ones-
Lightly roll each meatball on all purpose flour.
Heat a skillet with about 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
Pan sear the meatballs to brown all sides, about 2-3minutes on each side.
I do this in a pot so that I can cook the soup in the same one later on!
If you are making the meatballs for the soup, set aside the browned meatballs to cook in the soup later on.
If you are serving the meatballs not in the soup, finish cooking in the oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.
Soup
Finely chop the shallots or onion and add to the pot used for browning the chicken meatballs with a bit more drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Chop the celery, carrots, zucchini and tomatoes so that they are all similar in size.
For guests that are not a fan of chunky celery, go ahead and make them into small slivers so that they almost dissolve into the soup.
Add the celery and carrots to the shallots and let all three brown and soften.
Add the zucchini, tomatoes, and corn into the pan.
Salt and pepper the vegetables to taste.
Add the chicken stock and once the pot comes to a boil, add the chicken meatballs.
Boil for about 6-8 minutes and season the soup to your desired taste.
Simmer for about 10-12 minutes and serve!
I like to garnish mine with either finely diced shallots or red onion with a squeeze of lime. It gives an extra summery kick!
