I know this soup doesn’t look like anything special, but i’m kind of obsessed with it. I eat the canned version all the time, so I thought it was about time I try and make it myself. I’ve also been trying to train myself to stretch out my ingredients in as many ways as possible. For example, you can get a lot more bang for you buck by poaching chicken rather than by baking. I made a delicious crunchy ramen and poached chicken salad the other day (which was dope).
After I was finished poaching the chicken, I removed the meat from the bones and tossed the bones back into the liquid. I then had nine cups of healthy, low sodium and low (non?) fat chicken stock that would later be the base of this soup. The only extra ingredients I used to make the stock was one large carrot, an onion, a clove or two of garlic, some parsley stems I had in the fridge and a green pepper. You can easily play around with the ingredients, too. Since the original salad was asian inspired, I also put a little peeled ginger in there, which added a really nice sweetness.
- Soup Base
- 9 cups homemade chicken stock (about 3 quarts)
- 1 cup sliced baby carrots
- ¼ cup finely chopped spanish onion
- 4 cups fresh spinach
- 2 tsp corn starch optional
- Turkey Meatballs
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 T parm
- ¼ cup very finely chopped spanish onion
- ¼ tsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- pepper to taste
- ¼ tsp oregano
- 1 large egg
- ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ground turkey
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl, whisk the egg. Then add the rest of the turkey meatball ingredients and mix together thoroughly with your hands.
- Scoop teaspoon sized clumps of the meat, and, using the palms of your hands, roll them into balls. Place the meatballs on a rimmed cookie sheet, about a half of an inch apart.
- You only need about ½ to ⅔ of the meat to make enough balls for the soup. Once you think you have enough, you can opt to make larger balls instead.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until tender and cooked throughout. Do not anticipate any color or browning on the meat.
- Reserve one and a half cups of the stock, and pour the rest in a large stock pot and bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.
- Add the chopped carrots and onions and cook until the carrots are almost cooked (about 10-15 minutes.)
- In a separate saute pan, add the Israeli cousous and reserved chicken stock. Cook to the packages instructions.
- In a separate bowl, whisk about a cup of the hot stock with the corn starch until it has completely dissolved. Pour the slurry back into the stock and stir vigorously until the soup becomes noticeably thicker.
- Add the fresh spinach to the soup, cover with a lid, and cook for about 5 minutes or until the spinach has wilted completely.
- Add the turkey meatballs and couscous to the soup and bring to temperature.
- Season with salt and pepper.
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