Last week I made Comfort Soup with lamb instead of beef. I couldn’t find the written recipe fast enough, so I gave up and made a version from memory. And I see, now that I found the recipe, that I had forgotten one of the few ingredients. But the lamb made it superb nonetheless.
This morning I looked here to see if I had ever posted the recipe for this soup that was a mainstay of our menus from the beginning of our family. Though I had mentioned twice the eating of it, it appears I never shared the recipe itself, which I had clipped from Mademoiselle magazine when in high school, and saved in the three-ring binder that I used for all those ideas I hoped to use “someday.”
More than any other product of our kitchen, this recipe was requested by friends to whom we served it, and many of them mention it years later, telling how they continue to make it in their own homes. I wish I had the original magazine clipping, but I think it was becoming unreadable, at which point — I don’t want to say how long ago, because it’s mind-boggling — my oldest, Pearl, wrote out our family’s most recent adaptation, which you can see in the picture. But this is the original:
COMFORT SOUP
1 quart chicken stock
2 boxes frozen chopped spinach
1 # lean ground beef
2/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
ground black pepper
In a soup pot heat chicken stock and add spinach, frozen or thawed. Heat to a simmer (this will take longer if you are defrosting the spinach at the same time) while you make tiny meatballs (about ¾” in diameter) from the ground beef, cheese, and a dash of ground black pepper (which you have first mixed together). When the broth is simmering and the spinach is defrosted, add the meatballs and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Lightly beat the egg and swirl it around in the soup. Serve.
Serves 2-4. Good with French bread.
I don’t see spinach frozen in boxes anymore. The other day I made my lamb version with a pound of frozen chopped spinach and about a pound and a half of ground lamb. I forgot the egg altogether, and didn’t measure the Parmesan cheese. In the past I have made it with (a lot of!) fresh spinach. It’s very adaptable.
Just now I searched online for Comfort Soup to see if anyone else in the world had used that recipe from the 60’s, but if they did, they haven’t featured it on their website. In the era of food porn, something this “plain” does not have the right features to endear it to cooking site hosts, and there is not even a photo of anything resembling it. You’ll have to make it yourself if you are to experience in better ways than the visual, how Comfort Soup is a winter-warming pot of coziness.
Gladsome Lights 
That sounds very good. I love soup!
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This clearly is related to one of my favorites: Greek meatball soup (Youvarlakia) thickened with avgolemono. It’s so good even I’m willing to put in the work; I’ll bet yours is equally good.
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Yum! I love avgolemono and used to make it all the time. Adding meatballs takes it up a notch — I will definitely do this. Thank you!
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It sounds comforting. I love soup in all seasons, but especially in autumn and winter. Here one can still purchase boxes of frozen spinach, as well as bags.
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Hi Gretchen,
Reading your story about comfort soup made me smile! We still make your version since learning it from you almost fifty years ago! Love you❣️
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Soup and bread make such a satisfying meal.
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Soup is the ideal cold weather meal!
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This sounds delicious! I’m going to try it. Thank you.
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My dearest Gretchen:
… Your comfort soup is actually one that I also saw in Mademoiselle magazine! Just a thought of Mademoiselle took me on a remembrance trip to my home economics class – wow I can hardly believe that young women these days don’t get even those basic instructions! Soup stock is unheard of I know because I am at a soup kitchen in our town where all the skills that were brought forward in my life are being used to help those who need a bowl of comfort soup!
I haven’t made it for a long time, but this morning, on the day that I’ve put aside for my own needs, I’m going to make comfort soup! There are so many ways to make it as you say and the Dutch make a similar one and I’m pretty sure it’s made the same but not with Parmesan. I think they make it with Gouda. And it’s the last thing put in. But it’s been a while, they also add lovage and a soy like sauce called Maggie. So I would like to thank you for the wonderful memory! Being a 16 to 18 year old waiting for the Mademoiselle magazine! So fun.
I hope to make it to California this year or early next year and we must get together. My sister lives in Ripon, but I’m pretty sure we could make the trip up your way or meet halfway.
Once again thank you! I think of you often and love your blog.
Very sincerely yours,
Leslie
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