Lemon Dill Stew with Turkey Meatballs

I saw the most beautiful soup recipe in Good Housekeeping and I had to make it. It did not disappoint. We still think about this soup a month later. Bright and fresh. Hearty and savory. These seem almost contradictory but they somehow manage to come together in this delicious winter-into-spring stew.

Here lately, we have had the most inconsistent weather. The reassuring thing about the Bluegrass state is that the weather is always consistently inconsistent. You never can be sure what season the coming day will take on. Fortunately, this stew seems to do the trick for that winter-into-spring doldrum. The lack of sunshine and warmth can sometimes be very mood affecting. The bright and happy burst of lemon with the hint of dill can really liven your spirits. This is a bowl of happiness.

While it is a stew and is thick, it has an airy lightness to it. You won’t feel bloated and miserable after a big bowl of this (probably due to the substitution of bulgur wheat for millet, which is gluten free).

Recipe courtesy of Good Housekeeping

Ingredients needed:

• Ground turkey 1 lb.(original recipe uses ground chicken)
• 1 fresh pack of dill
• 6 cups chicken stock
• Mirepoix (2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, one onion; diced)
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest
• 1 – 1 3/4 c Millet (original recipe uses bulgur)
• Himalayan pink salt and freshly ground black pepper
• green onion

Here’s what you do:

1. I sautéed the mirepoix in a dutch oven in coconut oil until tender (about 10 minutes)
2. Add your chicken stock and bring to a boil; stir in millet (or your favorite grain) and reduce to a simmer.
3. Mix the ground turkey, lemon zest, dill and salt and pepper to taste. form into 1 inch meatballs and add to simmering soup with an additional 1/4 tsp salt and pepper.
4. Let simmer until meatballs are cooked through, about 10 minutes.
5. Garnish with green onion and enjoy!

Have you ever used millet before? I hadn’t, but I am sure glad I bought some on sale a while back. It is now a staple in my pantry. It is so versatile! What is your favorite grain?

---

Dill is a member of the parsley family along with famous cousins cumin, anise, fennel and caraway. These are delicious spices and herbs and anise was used in biblical times as offerings. Anise is mentioned one time in The Bible. In Matthew 23 Jesus is really laying into the religious elite of the day:

23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. 24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

They truly were a “generation of vipers” (Matthew 23:33).

Selah my friends.