chicken meatball and noodle soup

Make meatballs: In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, parsley, garlic, breadcrumbs, onion powder, salt, and many grinds of black pepper. Add ground chicken and use a fork to mix just until parsley is distributed throughout mixture, trying not to overmix. Use wet hands to shape mixture into 1 tablespoon-sized meatballs, arranging them on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. The meatball mixture will be very soft but keeping your hands wet should help it roll off. Place meatballs in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.

Cook noodles: In a medium saucepan, bring salted water (or water with some chicken bouillon added for flavor) to a boil and cook noodles according to their package directions. Personally, this is not a place where I want “al dente” noodles — I cook mine until tender. Drain and set in a bowl until needed.

Make soup: In a large saucepan (or, my favorite braiser), heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook, stirring, until partly tender, about 6 minutes. Add 4 cups of the broth and bring it to a simmer. Carefully add chilled meatballs, one at a time, and bring broth back to a simmer. Simmer meatballs for 10 minutes, checking one at the end to make sure it’s cooked through and adding more time if needed. If meatballs have absorbed a lot of broth, you might find that you want to add 1 or 2 cups of the remaining chicken broth, bringing it back to a simmer. Taste broth for seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste.

To serve: Spoon cooked noodles, to taste, into your bowl, then ladle broth and meatballs over. Finish with chopped herbs.

Do ahead: Keeping the meatballs/broth mixture and noodles separate is ideal for storing leftovers, too. Reheat soup over medium-low heat in a covered pot until simmering. Let the soup warm the noodles when serving.