Rachael's Daytime Talk Show
Mini Meat Dumplings & Cheese Tortellini in Broth -- 08/28/07

Mini Meat Dumplings & Cheese Tortellini in Broth

Ingredients

  • 6 cups chicken broth or stock
  • 3/4 pound ground veal, or ground beef, pork, and veal mixture
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs (a couple of handfuls)
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmigiano or Romano cheese (a handful)
  • 2 pinches ground nutmeg (1/4 teaspoon)
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 12-ounce package small fresh cheese filled tortellini
  • Extra grated cheese, for the table
  • 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Yields: 4-6 servings

Preparation

Add chicken stock to a deep pot and bring up to a simmer.

While waiting for the stock to heat, combine the ground meat with egg, bread crumbs, cheese, nutmeg, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Roll into small walnut-size balls. Once stock is simmering, add meatballs. Let the stock come back up to a simmer then add the tortellini and cook according to package directions.

While the dumplings and tortellini are cooking, place the parsley leaves, lemon zest and garlic in a pile on your cutting board. Run you knife through it until it is finely chopped and mixed together.

To make sure the meatballs are cooked through, split one open and make sure there is no pink left in the meat. To serve, ladle some of the broth with dumplings and tortellini in to a shallow bowl and top with a sprinkle of the parsley mixture and some Parmigiano.