Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup

Boyfriend has a bad cold. He's been sick for a few days now, with a very sore throat, and a bad cough. He hasn't felt like eating much, so I thought chicken soup would be just the ticket to a speedy recovery. Yesterday, all he ate was canned chicken noodle soup, so today I tried to make something slightly different. This is a great comfort soup, and is a great way to use up stuff you have around the house.



The Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 carrots, large dice
1 medium bulb fennel, medium dice
1 medium onion, medium dice
2 stalks celery, medium dice
2 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
1 quart chicken stock (I had some homemade stock frozen, but a low sodium store bought stock would be fine, too)
1 package noodles (I found some spinach chive linguini at Trader Joes that I though might be tasty in the soup. But egg noodles, pastini, rotini, or whatever pasta you like would be fine. This would also be a great way to use up ends of boxes of pasta, if you're like me and have multiple boxes of pasta with one serving or less remaining.)
dark leafy greens, if you have them (I had some kale in the fridge, so threw it in)

Meatballs:
1 lb ground chicken
½ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup grated parmigiano reggiano
1 egg
1 sprig thyme, minced
1 pinch dried minced onion
1 pinch garlic powder
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 tsp grill seasoning
1 shallot, grated

The Directions:
1. Heat dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Add olive oil and heat through. Add carrots, fennel, onion, and celery, and sauté 5 minutes, until they start to become tender. Add 2 sprigs thyme, bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sauté 1 or 2 minutes more. Add stock, and bring to boil.
2. While stock is coming to boil, make meatballs. Combine all meatball ingredients and combine well with hands. Do not over mix. Form golf ball sized meatballs, and drop into soup. (I ended up using about 2/3 of the meatball mix before deciding that was enough for 2 of us. So I'm saving the rest and will bake off meatballs tomorrow for lunch. 350° for about 15 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through) Reduce to simmer, cover, and cook 45 minutes or so. The longer it cooks, the more the flavors will combine.
3. Before serving, bring back to boil and add noodles to soup. Cook until noodles are al dente. If you like, add a few handfuls of dark, leafy greens, chopped to bite sized pieces when you add the noodles.

This was SO good. It had tons of flavor, and the whole apartment smelled yummy. I loved having meatballs, rather than shredded chicken, since I think it gave an additional depth of flavor. The kale was a great twist, too. I wanted to boost the healthy factor, so Boyfriend will feel better as soon as possible, and thought that the vitamins in the kale would be a good way to start. And it's such a hearty green, that it doesn't get too soggy or soft. We have enough left over for a couple of lunches, and I think we'll both be sad when it's gone. I may have to make another pot!