This made for a delicious start to soup season! I didn't feel like making homemade breadcrumbs, so I just used store bought and it came out totally fine. Same for the pastina as it's hard to find it locally, so orzo it was. I prefer firmer meatballs, so next time I think I'll use a higher ratio of meat to breadcrumbs (i.e. more meat or less breadcrumbs) Really tasty though and will definitely be making it again soon.
