Meatball Soup with Lovage

I saw this on The Peoples Cookbook earlier this week and decided I just had to give it a try. Although I had to wait three days for a packet of lovage from my favourite veg shop, I still attempted it.
Servings: 6-8
Level of difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
For the meatballs
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
450g lean minced beef
small bunch Lovage, finely chopped
2 tbsp ground rice
1 egg
5-6 drops Tabasco
For the soup
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1.5 litre water
3 tbsp tomato puree
2 beef stock cubes
100ml white wine vinegar
1 tsp granulated sugar
small bunch Lovage, leaves only, roughly chopped
Method