Spring Turkey Meatball Soup

I had a 20 oz. package of ground turkey, so I made a big batch of meatball mix.  24 little meatballs made 4-6 servings of soup for lunch, and 20 larger meatballs are in the fridge, waiting to be cooked for dinner.  You could double the soup recipe, and use all the meat balls in it, but I'm going to brown the leftovers and serve them with pasta and tomato sauce.

I used scarified wild rice, which is scratched so it cooks faster than plain wild rice.  It cooked in about the same time as the thinly sliced carrots.  If you want to use regular wild rice or brown rice, give the rice a 20 minute head start before adding the carrots.  I like the aspargus to have a little crunch.  If you like it very tender, cook a little longer at the end.

This recipe did take advantage of two special kitchen toys : a fine microplane, and a Microplane 35009 Medium Ribbon Grater.

For the soup:

1 quart unsalted chicken stock
1 1/2 c. water
1/2 cup scarified wild rice
12-18 green onions
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
4-5 small carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 bunch of asparagus (~ 1 lb)


For the meatballs:

20 oz of 93% lean ground turkey
1/2 c. golden flax meal
1/2 c. grated Parmesan, Romano, or similar hard cheese
1 c. grated, zucchini (~ 3/4 of a small zucchini grated with the ribbon grater)
1/2 c. grated carrot (1 small carrot grated with the ribbon grater)
1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper
1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 egg

Pour the chicken broth and rice into a 4 - 5 quart pot.  Place the pot over medium heat while you clean and slice the green onions.  Set aside the green parts of the onion aside, and add the white parts to the pot.  Using a fine microplane grater, grate the garlic into the pot.  Peel the carrots, and slice them thinly.  Add them to the pot.  When the broth begins to simmer reduce heat to medium low and cover.  Snap off the tough bottoms of the asparagus, and slice the stalks into 3/4 inch chunks.   Keep the tips separate -- they cook faster and will be added to the soup last.

Now you have time to make the meatballs.  Put the ground turkey in a medium sized bowl.  Measure the flax meal and cheese into the bowl.   Grate the carrot, and measure 1/2 a cup into the bowl.  Grate the zucchini and measure 1 c. into the bowl.  Discard any extra carrot or zucchini.  Add Aleppo pepper, white pepper, salt and egg.  Have 2 large plates, and scoops or tablespoons ready to hold the meatballs.  Mix all the meatball ingredients until thoroughly combined.   Make 24 one tablespoon meat balls for the soup.  Roll the remaining meatball mixture into whatever size you'd like for the leftovers, and refrigerate.

Wash your hands and taste the rice in the soup.  Depending on how fast you work, it might already be tender.  If not, give it a few more minutes.

When the rice is tender, turn the heat up to medium-high, and carefully place the meatballs in the broth.  Cover the pot, and reduce the heat to medium.   Cook 5-7 minutes until meatballs seem to be cooked through.  Uncover the pot, and add the asparagus stems and green part of the onions.  Cook for 5-7 minutes, and then add the asparagus tips.  Cook 2 minutes, remove from heat and serve.