Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup!

 A library book that both of the girls love is called Watch Out for the Chicken Feet in Your Soup.  The book description says, "Embarrassed to introduce his friend to his old-fashioned Italian grandmother, a young boy gains a new appreciation of her when he finds how well she and his friend get along."  It is really cute and I think John and I have a lot of fun imitating the grandma's accent.  He obviously is a lot better at it than I am.  





Anyway, this book gave me the idea that I should put chicken feet in the kids soup when I serve it sometime.  I have some pastured chicken feet in the freezer that I usually throw a couple in the stock pot when I think about it but the point was to make it fun for the kids.  


The soup could be any kind of soup but I wanted to make a meatball soup since the chicken feet are just to be silly.  This recipe is an honest Karen original recipe, not something "loosely based" or truly plagarized from another source.  I was thinking I wanted to do an Asian-style meatball soup that was similar to wonton or egg drop but without the wonton wrappers or MSG and with more kid-friendly ingredients.  The idea is the wonton-filling without the wontons, broth, egg drop instead of noodles, and a load of veggies.  This recipe is grain-free and low carb.


Chicken Foot Soup (aka Asian-style meatball soup)
*Feet optional




Ingredients

Meatballs

1-1.5 lbs. ground chicken or turkey (I used half ground dark meat and half ground white meat)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 -1/2 c. onion, grated very finely

2 cloves of garlic, grated very finely

1/2 -1 t. chinese five spice, optional

1/2 -1 t. white pepper or black pepper

1/2-1 t.  ground ginger

1 t. sesame oil, if you have it.  I can't eat sesame but I know it is what give wontons that unique flavor.

Salt to taste  (ground chicken is very bland and needs a lot of salt IMO)

olive oil

3 c. mixed veggies, diced small for soup.  I used a load of carrots, asian green stems, and bok choy stems.  I would use onion if the kids weren't so anti-onion lately.  If using leafy greens, set those aside for the end so they don't get overcooked and bitter. 

2-4 cloves garlic, sliced

fresh ginger to taste.

chilis to taste

6 c. chicken stock, with or without feet
~2T. soy sauce
~ 1 egg per person






To Make That Day
Combine all meatball ingredients and roll into small meatballs.  These don't have any binder like breadcrumbs so they need to be rolled very small like the size of nickels.  Brown them all thoroughly.  Cook one as a taste test and eat it to taste if the seasoning is how you like it.  Correct as necessary.  Remember that you can always add but never subtract seasoning.  After browning all meatballs, set them aside.  Saute veggies, garlic, ginger, ahd chilis in a large soup pot until mostly tender.  Add meatballs, stock, and soy sauce and heat through.  Add any tender greens and cook them, usually 1-2 minutes.  In a small bowl, scramble the eggs.  Serve soup in bowls with the feet (if using) and stream the egg mixture into each bowl to make the egg ribbons.




To Make Ahead
Brown meatballs thoroughly and make sure they are cooked all the way through.  Set aside and cool.  Saute veggies as above and leave out the tender greens.  Cool veggies.  Combine meatballs and veggies with chicken stock and uncooked tender greens.  Refrigerate.   Reheat when desired and add egg drop before serving.