Vegetable Soup with Meatballs, for Non-Soup-Lovers

My partner is not ‘a soup person’. Whenever I tell him I’ve made soup for dinner, his face falls as he exclaims sadly, ‘Ah ... soup.’ For him, soup is associated with not having enough to eat. Fortunately, this soup is an exception to the rule, and he absolutely loves it — I think it must be all those bite-sized meatballs! Vegetarians can replace them with Green nettle pelmeni dumplings.