One of my favorite and most comforting soups since my childhood is Sicilian Meatball Soup. It’s not at all difficult to make, but preparing a rich beef stock does take time and should be made a day or two ahead of time.
Here’s a list of other Sicilian recipes on this site: Cassatedde; Caponata; Cassata; Sfincione; Cookies; Pasta with Lentils; Cabbage Frittata; Cuddurune; Sicilian Meat Sauce.
For the Beef Stock
To make the stock, preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a large shallow roasting pan, arrange the chuck, the bones, the carrots, and the onions. Place at the middle level of the oven and roast, turning the ingredients several times so, they brown evenly. This should take about 40 minutes.
Roast meat, bones, and vegetables.
Remove from the oven and transfer the ingredients to a large kettle, about 8-10 quarts. Drain the fat from the roasting pan. Set the roasting pan over the flame, and add 2 cups of water, scraping up any browned particles with a wooden spoon.
Deglaze the pan.
Pour that liquid into the soup kettle. Add the commercial beef stock and enough water to cover the ingredients. Then add the celery, the parsley, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, cloves, and salt.
Simmer the stock.
Bring to the simmer. Skim off any scum that accumulates. Once the stock looks clear of the scum, partially cover and simmer for at least 4-5 hours. Do not fully cover the pot. Keep the stock at a slow simmer. Do not let it boil or the fat will incorporate into the stock. If the liquid is evaporating too much, add extra water as needed. When you believe you’ve extracted all you can from the ingredients, remove from the heat.
With a ladle strain the liquid into a smaller kettle, pressing down on the vegetables to extract as much flavor as possible.
Strain the vegetables.
Discard the bones and the vegetables. The piece of chuck may be served separately.
If you have time, once the stock has cooled, refrigerate it until the fat congeals at the top. The fat can then be removed easily with a spoon. If you don’t have time, let the stock cool, then spoon off the accumulated fat. To remove the last elements of fat, skim paper towels over the stock.
Simplified Version
You can make a greatly simplified version of Sicilian Meatball Soup simply by skipping the above stock preparation and using store-bought beef stock instead. If you do this, don’t expect the wonderful taste of a long-simmered stock
For the Meatballs
To make the meatballs, place the ground chuck in a bowl with the shallots, the garlic, the eggs, the Parmigiano, the bread crumbs, the parsley, the oregano, and salt and pepper to taste.
Combine the meatball ingredients.
Mix gently with your fingertips then knead a bit until smooth. Take a small piece of the mixture, flatten it, and fry it in a little oil to taste for seasoning. Correct the seasoning.
Fry a small piece to test seasoning.
Roll the meatballs between your hands to the size of a hazelnut.
Roll the meatballs.
To Prepare the Tomatoes
Dip the tomatoes in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds.
Dip tomatoes in boiling water.
Core them, and strip off the peels.
Peel the tomatoes.
Cut them in half. Take each half and gently squeeze out the juice and seeds. You want only the pulp, which should then be chopped.
Chop the tomatoes.
Bring the stock to a boil. and add the chopped tomato. When it returns to a boil, add all of the meatballs. Again skim off the scum that accumulates. In about 7-10 minutes the meatballs should be floating to the top and fully cooked. The meatballs will be soft and tender because they are not fried, just boiled.
Boil the meatballs.
Add the pastina (tiny pasta) to the soup and cook just until tender.
To Serve the Sicilian Meatball Soup
If you are not serving all the Sicilian Meatball Soup at one meal, cook the pastina (any shaped small pasta is fine) separately in boiling salted water, just until tender. (You don’t want leftover pasta in the soup or it will turn to mush.) With a slotted spoon, place some pastina in each soup bowl, then add the meatball soup. Serve Parmigiano on the side for those who want extra on their soup.
Sicilian Meatball Soup with Pastina.
