Place all of the meatball ingredients in a bowl or food processor and knead with your hands or pulse with the food processor until thoroughly combined.
Form the mixture into tiny meatballs (about the size of a small cherry tomato).
Roll each meatball in flour and then place them on a platter or cookie sheet. This takes forever and you may need some alcohol to get through the whole process
Wrap them with plastic wrap and refrigerate them until ready to use.
Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan and gently and quickly fry the meatballs. They cook fast because they are so small
Fry the meatballs in batches, placed them on a paper towel with a slotted spoon.
Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the greens; then drain.
In a medium stock pot, heat the oil and cook the onions and garlic until translucent, 4-5 minutes.
5 Minutes
Add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil.
Gently drop the meatballs into the soup followed by the pasta.
Let the meatballs and pasta simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add the leafy greens and simmer for 3-4 minutes or until wilted.
4 Minutes
Add salt and pepper to taste. Dish up the soup and serve sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and some red pepper flakes for a bit of heat.
Optional: At very end, once the greens are wilted, whisk 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese together with 1 large egg.
Stir the broth to get it moving and gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the broth, stirring it gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees
Grease a small baking dish of about 24 square inches (mine was a 4x6 inch glass dish, but anything close to that will work).
Pour the batter into the dish.
Bake until the batter has set and the top becomes a light golden brown color, about 30 minutes
30 Minutes
Turn out of the dish and let cool on a cooling rack
When cool, cut into small cubes and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or drop into soup at end.
Servings 0