The Dish: Chicken-and-Ricotta Meatballs in Broth

I saw Martha make this on her show last week and headed over to Trader Joe's to pick up all the ingredients. It is super easy! I used ground turkey and I bit more nutmeg. Look, my photo for the first time ever, almost matches the photo in the magazine!!

Serves 6

• 1 pound ground white-meat chicken
• 2 cups part-skim ricotta
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• Ground nutmeg
• 8 cups (64 ounces) low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 lemon, zest peeled off in wide strips, plus lemon slices for serving
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bag (6 ounces) baby spinach

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix chicken with ricotta, Parmesan, egg, salt, and pinch of nutmeg until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, combine broth, lemon zest, and thyme and bring to a simmer. Using a spring-loaded 1/4-cup ice-cream scoop or two large spoons, drop meatball mixture into broth (you should have 18 meatballs). Simmer gently until meatballs float and are cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes. Just before serving, add spinach to broth and let wilt; garnish soup with lemon slices.

From Everyday Food, September 2009