Meatball Cabbage Soup

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It is mid June and I’m finally wearing short sleeves. I was, however,  still wearing my winter coat through the first week of June here in Switzerland. We’ve had a very wet and cold spring this year. In fact, they were saying on the news here that we should expect to see the price of milk rise because the cows are “unhappy” and making less milk because of the wet and dreary weather. This kind of weather always makes me want to crawl into bed and pull the covers up over my head. Instead, I made a warm and hearty meatball for dinner last week and that made me feel warm and happy. Too bad cows don’t eat soup so that I could share with them and make them happy again, too.

Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients. Most of it is just normal spices. This meal took about 45 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

• 600 grams (about 1 1/2 lbs) ground meat of your choice (I used a mix of pork and beef)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 cloves crushed fresh garlic
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 onion, finely chopped

For the soup:

• 1 Tablespoon of ghee or oil of choice
• 2 leeks or 1 onion, chopped (I used leeks because that’s what I had)
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 6 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 Tablespoon of fresh chopped Rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried (I used fresh)
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 bay leaf (if you have them)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 3 cups of bone broth or chicken broth (I make my own)
• 400 grams (14 oz can) of canned tomatoes
• 1/2 head of cabbage, chopped

Instructions

To make the meatballs:

1. Put everything together in a large mixing mixing bowl and smoosh it all together with your hands.
   

   Ready to mix

2. Roll medium sized meatballs (a little smaller than a golf ball). I ended up with about 20.
3. Place your meatballs on a foil lined baking tray and place in a pre-heated 400 F (200 C) oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. You could also fry them in a skillet if you prefer.
   

   I do mine in the oven

To make the soup:

1. Melt the ghee or oil of choice in a large soup pot over medium high heat and add the onions (leeks), celery and carrots. Cook until softened (about 5 minutes).
   

   Cook the veggies together

2. Now add all the spices and minced garlic and stir well.
3. Add in the broth and canned tomatoes and stir well.
4. Add chopped cabbage and simmer for 30 minutes.
   

   Chop the cabbage

5. The meatballs will probably be done cooking before your soup is done simmering. Plop them into the soup as soon as they come out of the oven. Don’t worry, they don’t fall apart in the soup!
   

   Add the meatballs

   

   Soup!

    

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