Venison Meatball Soup

We’d enjoyed some venison meatballs as one of the appetizers for our Thanksgiving dinner this year. There were leftovers in the fridge today when my wife Bethany got the idea to make some soup. She collected whatever vegetables we had and when she saw those meatballs, they hit the counter top too.

Here at home, I’m just the pretender while Bethany is the real cook.  So, a couple of hours later, it was no surprise that she’d concocted a masterpiece and we were eating like kings.

The beef broth made a great complementary base for the meatballs.  They had been slow cooked with just a little BBQ sauce that added a unique sweet and tangy flavor.  All of the fresh vegetables were crisp and firm while the canned ingredients (corn, tomatoes and garbanzo beans) added all the right tastes and textures.

I like a dollop of sour cream in mine and we ate it with whatever bread and rolls were in the cupboard.  It was perfect!

Here’s a list of what she used and what she did.  If it’s a little less precise than you’d like, well sorry, the leftovers in our fridge and pantry don’t always have quantity labels.

Ingredients

• BBQ venison meatballs
• Chopped onion and celery (leftovers not used in the turkey dressing)
• 2 or 3 fresh garlic cloves, crushed
• Carrots, sliced
• Mushrooms, sliced
• Broccolini, cut into 1″ pieces
• Green beans, trimmed and cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 can of peeled, whole tomatoes
• 1 can of corn
• 1 can of garbanzo beans
• Beef broth
• Olive oil
• Red wine
• Salt and pepper
• Italian seasoning

Instructions

1. Saute the onion, garlic and celery with olive oil
2. Add a few splashes of red wine
3. Then saute the rest of the fresh vegetables until just softened.
4. Add beef broth
5. Add canned vegetables, tomatoes cut into bites sized chunks
6. Add meatballs
7. Then season to taste with Italian spices, salt and pepper and another splash of wine if you’d like
8. Bring to boil, then turn down to simmer for an hour or so.
9. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and buttered fresh bread
10. Freeze leftovers.  This soup tastes even better the second time around.