This lamb meatball soup recipe with young onions and greens is a great way to celebrate spring or early summer when those ingredients are at their peak. I made this as an homage to foraging lambs and goats and I use ingredients that may be new to you, but all of them can be easily substituted with staples from a supermarket or your local coop.
Spring lamb soup with meatballs and herbs.
How to Make Spring Lamb Meatball Soup
Starting with your favorite meatballs mix (or using the simple recipe I’m providing here) brown a few meatballs, then cook some young onions in the drippings. Add a few wild mushrooms (I use pheasant back mushrooms in the video but shiitakes are a good substitute), a few dried beans and some stock, then cook for a quick 30 to 45 minutes. At the end, the finish the stew with wilted greens and fresh mint to wake up the flavors. By itself, the stew will serve 2-4, but, like many good stews, you may want to double it to ensure leftovers to eat throughout the week!
Brown the meatballs in a soup pot.
Remove the meatballs and add spring onions.
After a few minutes, add some sliced or chopped mushrooms.
Add the meatballs back to the pot.
Add 2 cups of cooked beans, like fava beans or chickpeas.
Add the greens at the end just to wilt them.
Chef Alan Bergo
This recipe is by chef Alan Bergo. A chef from Minnesota, Alan is a culinary industry veteran, former executive chef of acclaimed Lucia’s Restaurant, and the Salt Cellar. Founder of the website Forager Chef, he’s best known as a respected authority on Midwestern foraging. Learn more about Alan and his hunt for mushrooms, wild and obscure foods at Forager Chef.
Shepherd Song Farm: Grass to table. We raise lambs & goats traditionally, humanely and sustainably. 100% Grass Fed, Pasture Raised, Never Confined, no Hormones, Grains or Animal Byproducts. Born, raised and processed in the U.S.A. Good for you and good for the environment.
¼lblamb baconoptional you can use our lamb bacon, or your favorite
¼teaspoonsalt
1/8teaspooncrushed red pepper flakes
½teaspoonground black pepper
½cupchopped onion or shallot
Stew
6ozspring oniongreen garlic, ramp bulbs or similar
4oz2 cups chopped wild mushrooms
3cupschicken stock or lamb stock
4oz2 packed cups fresh greens, like spinach, nettles, etc
¾cupdried fava beans or 2 cups cooked beans or your choice
Fresh mintfor serving
2tablespoonscooking olive oil
Wild flowersto garnish (optional)
Instructions
Soak the dried fava beans if using in twice their volume of water to cover. You can also substitute a can of cooked chickpeas.
For the meatballs, pulse the bacon in a food processor with the onion or shallot until smooth-ish. Mix the bacon mixture and remaining meatball ingredients, then form the meatball mixture into small meatballs.
For the stew, heat the olive oil in a stew pot or dutch oven on medium high heat then brown the meatballs. When the meatballs are browned, remove, then add the onions, sweat for a minute, then push to the side and add the mushrooms. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add the meat stock, meatballs and soaked fava beans, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 30-45 minutes, or until the beans are tender.
Stir in the greens, just to wilt, double check the seasoning for salt and pepper, adjust as needed. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve garnished with the fresh mint and wildflowers if using.
Video
Notes
This is a simple recipe you can adapt to what you have on hand. I like fresh, spring flavors here. Finishing it with a dash of lemon juice can be nice.Adding some curry powder to the meatball mixture is another nice variation to try.