Creamy Chicken and Spinach Meatball Soup with Fluffy Dumplings

After basking  in the after-dinner glow of noshing on these wonderful little morsels of chicken meatballs in a delectable creamy spinach and leek soup with mounds of light, fluffy dumplings to sop up the soup, I am saddened.  Saddened because there won't be any leftovers tomorrow! haha!

Like me, you may rethink ever eating beef meatballs again! okay, maybe not. But they're SO good.

Before you start anything, thaw a 10oz package of frozen spinach, put it into a mesh strainer and strain that spinach the best you can. Squeeze, squeeze, and then squeeze it some more. It's very important to get the spinach dry as possible so your meatballs don't fall apart and your soup isn't watery. So do this first, then let the spinach hang out in a strainer over a bowl. By the time you're ready for it, it'll be pretty dry and good to go.

Be sure to clean your leeks. Little bits of dirt and sand get caught up in the layers and layers of the leek. I've found the quickest way is to slice them in about 1/2 inch slices, or less, and put them in a large bowl (or salad spinner) of water. Swish them a round, separating the layers, then let them sit a minute. The dirt and sand will sink to the bottom and the leeks will float. Salad spinners are awesome and time savers for this step!

for the meatballs (makes 25-28 small):

• extra-virgin olive oil, about 2 Tablespoons, for browning meatballs
• 1 lb of ground chicken
• 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 2 Tablespoons plain breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped spinach, drained and squeezed VERY well
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon grated onion (with the juice, I just grate it over the chicken in the bowl)
• 2 Tablespoons fresh parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 clove garlic, grated (again, just grate it over the chicken in the bowl)
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon dried Thyme, crushed a bit
• kosher salt and pepper, few pinches each

for the soup:

• 32 oz box chicken broth
• 2 leeks, sliced, cleaned and drained. (I use the light green part too, just like on green onions/scallions)
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 1/2 cups sliced carrot, fairly thin so it cooks with everything else
• 1/2 cup chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed VERY dry
• 2 cloves garlic, minced fine or grated
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried, crushed thyme. I used 1/2, but that may be a wee too thyme-y for some people. Scale it back if you aren't sure.
• 1 Tablespoon butter
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch

dumpling instructions to follow.


       Combine ground chicken with 2 Tablespoons breadcrumbs, spinach, egg, grated onion, parmesan, grated garlic, dried thyme, and a few good pinches of salt and pepper. Use your hands and gently combine all. Mixture will be wet.

Chill for a few minutes, about 5-10 minutes.

Mix the 1/2 cup of plain breadcrumbs with a healthy pinch of salt, some pepper, and the Italian seasoning.

Using a small ice cream scoop (for about one inch balls), scoop small meatballs and drop into breadcrumbs to coat.  I find it easier and less messy to drop the meatballs from the scoop, right into the breadcrumbs, coat them and then gently roll them between my palms just a bit to give them a little shape. You don't want to take too much time rolling them in your hands. They won't be firm like ground beef meatballs.
Put them in one layer on a plate.

When all meatballs are made, put them into the fridge to chill while you heat up a heavy bottomed pan with a lid like a dutch oven.  If you don't have a lid, use a round pizza pan. Works great! You need something that won't allow steam to escape for the dumplings.

When pan is hot over medium-low heat, add about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil carefully. Evoo can spit when too hot.
Brown meatballs, trying not to fuss with them too much or they'll break up. Browning just two sides is fine. Don't cook the meatballs all the way through.

Be sure not to crowd the pan. It may be necessary to cook the meatballs in two batches.
Add more olive oil, if needed to keep balls browning and the bottom of the pan from burning.

Remove browned, but not all the way cooked, meatballs and set them aside.

Add 2 Tablespoons of margarine or butter to the pan after you've removed the meatballs.

Add carrots, celery, thyme, and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Cook and stir around a bit for about 3 minutes or so. Enough to give the carrots a head start.

Add leeks, spinach, garlic, and pinch more of salt and pepper; cook and stir a couple minutes.

Turn heat up to medium and add chicken broth and all but about two tablespoons of the milk and bring up just to a boil, then reduce heat to low. So that it simmers, but not so hard as to make it stick to the bottom of the pan.

Mix cornstarch with the leftover milk until cornstarch is dissolved and stir into soup.  Keep stirring until soup starts to thicken a bit.

Carefully add the meatballs to the soup.

While soup returns to a nice simmer, make the dumplings.


 for the dumplings:
I use a shortcut! I adore Bisquick dumplings. They're light and fluffy and just perfect every time!
(no, I don't work for them, nor do I know anyone who does, and I don't get paid to say that! LOL)



2 cups bisquick (yellow box, just the good ol' fashioned kind)
2/3 cup milk

Put bisquick in small bowl and make a well in the center. Pour in the milk all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon just until all the liquid is absorbed and you have a soft dough. Dip a tablespoon measuring spoon into the hot, simmering soup to scoop out little spoonfuls of dough onto the soup. Works perfect this way and no mess! Except for having to use your finger sometimes. :)

Just like that.

Don't worry about overcrowding your pan. As long as the soup is simmering gently and your pan is covered, with no peeking!, you'll get soft, fluffy dumplings.

Keep the lid on for 10 minutes, or until the dumplings are dry on top. I topped mine with more parmesan cheese.
Dinner's ready! YUMMY!

Meatballs! Stroganoff and a Sub!

Stroganoff pictured here

 This recipe makes enough meatballs to set some aside in the freezer for spaghetti, meatball subs (scroll to the bottom of this post for my meatball sub), or any other recipe you'd like to have a batch of meatballs ready to go. I forgot to write down exactly how many it made, but I baked two baking sheets of about one-inch meatballs. So 40-50 meatballs. I strongly suggest chilling the meatballs, as it helps them hold their shape and it's easier to form them. They can be prepped the night before, so all you have to do is throw them into the oven.

As always, much of this recipe is personal preference. For example, the mushrooms. I would have preferred large slices of mushrooms, but I live with mushroom-haters (haha), so I chopped them up pretty small. Same with the onions.  The meatballs were a big hit with them, by the way.  Score one for me. I won't tell if you don't. :)
Oh, also, a mixture of ground meats, such as pork, lamb and beef is preferable for ultimate meatballs, but I used just ground beef for the sake of my wallet.  They were still moist and wonderful!
But enough of that! Let's get to the recipe..

Meatballs:

• 3 lbs ground beef
• roughly 2 cups torn bread chunks from a thick bread like a sub bun
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup minced white onion
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry as possible
• 1/4 cup fresh fine chopped mushrooms
• 2 lightly beaten eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire 
• few good pinches of black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground sage

Stroganoff gravy:

•  5 Tablespoons margarine, plus 1 Tablespoon
• 1 cup minced onion 
• 1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped small
• 1 small dried bay leaf
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups beef broth
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
• 1 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire 
• salt and pepper to taste (keep in mind the meatballs will add salt taste)
• 1/2 cup sour cream, plus more to top with, if desired

To make meatballs:
 
Soak bread chunks in 3/4 cup of milk in small bowl for about 10-20 minutes, until all the milk is soaked up. 

Combine all meatball ingredients in a bowl. Mix with your hands to combine, but try not to over mix or squish too harsh. Cover bowl and chill for at least an hour; up to overnight.  

Line a cookie sheet (one with a small edge so the meatball drippings don't get all over your oven, that's always joyful) with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Using a small ice cream scoop, gently make about 1 inch meatballs. They don't have to be exact, but try to make them even sized as possible for even cooking.  When baking sheet is full, put leftover mix into fridge until the first batch is done.

Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your meatballs. I usually find when they are firm, but not hard, to the touch, they are done.

Let meatballs stand for about 3-5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet.

Remove and make the last batch of meatballs.

You should have 40-60 meatballs. Save some for this recipe and in labeled freezer bags, freeze the others for quick meals or snacks.

Stroganoff Gravy:
In large pan, use 5 Tablespoons of margarine, with bay leaf, to soften onions about 3-4 minutes over medium heat and then add mushrooms and dash of salt and pepper. Stir and cook a couple more minutes, but not so long as to soak up all the moisture in the pan.

Add 1 Tablespoon margarine and using a wooden spoon, slowly stir in flour.

Cook and stir until all flour is moistened and you have a thick mixture, or roux. Keep stirring for about 2-3 minutes, lowering the heat just a touch, if needed, so as not to burn the flour.

In a slow, but steady stream, add beef broth while stirring vigorously to avoid lumping. Keep stirring and adding broth slowly, until all the broth is added.  Add milk and keep stirring until thickening slows.

Add nutmeg, Worcestershire and then salt and pepper to taste, if needed. 

When gravy is thick, remove from heat and add sour cream. Stir, then add meatballs.

Serve over medium egg noodles, rice, or alone, and with extra sour cream, if desired.

 Mmmm.. I love extra sour cream!

What I did with some extra meatballs I saved out:
Add about 2 Tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan to a small can (15 oz) of spaghetti sauce to about 15 meatballs or so, depending out saucy you like them. Put on a buttered and toasted sub bun sprinkled with garlic powder. Arrange meatballs, spoon sauce over, top with a bit more grated parmesan, some thin sliced mozzarella, teeeny pinch of Italian seasoning, stick under broiler to melt and tada! LUNCH! yum!

Ahhh...nothing like a hot meatball sub for a Saturday lunch!