Sunday, December 6, 2009

Italian Wedding Soup


Darn my lack of food photography skills.

My friends came over for game night yesterday, so I wanted to offer them something delicious. It's been unusually chilly here in LA, so a warm, hearty soup was in order. I am pretty slow in the kitchen. I always take the time to set out all of my ingredients. This added prep mean that the Italian Wedding Soup took me about 2 hours to prepare.

     I hope the recipe below works for you. It's divided into two parts: meatballs and soup. I prepped the meatballs first, then moved onto the soup.

Italian Wedding Soup

Yield
8-10 servings

For the Meatballs
Ingredients
2 lb. ground chuck
1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
3/4 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese, finely grated
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pinch nutmeg

Directions
1. Stir together all of the ingredients (except the ground beef) in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add the ground chuck and mix together thoroughly.

3. Shape into 40-50 marble-sized meatballs. A small scoop or melon baller can be used as well.

Notes
This will give you a plenty of leftovers. You can make additional meatballs, place them on a baking sheet in a freezer and wait until they are hard. Remove and store in a freezer bag. While this recipe calls for rather small meatballs, you can certainly make and store any sized meatballs that you might require.

For the Soup
Ingredients1 cup yellow onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrot, diced
1 cup ham, diced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
meatballs (see above)
1 can (15 oz.) white beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups whole spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated

Directions

1. Sweat onions, celery, carrots, ham and garlic in large pot with 2 tablespoons olive oil until softened.

2. Add broth, oregano, red pepper flakes and bay leaf and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

3. Drop in meatballs and cook until they float to the top, 3-4 minutes.

4. Stir in beans, spinach leaves and parsley. Cook just until spinach wilts, about 2 minutes.

5. Combine eggs and Parmesan with a whisk. Off heat, slowly stir egg mixture into soup. Serve.

Notes
Even though you use a canned broth, cooking the meatballs in the soup really adds a nice flavor. The cheese and egg mixture adds a nice body to the soup. This dish can actually be served as a main course.

3 comments:

  1. Holy crap, guy. This blog is even better than your RPG blog (and that is saying something). I'm glad I stumbled across it. Yum.

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  2. Thanks, man. I've been meaning to update. I have a few things I cooked that need a write-up. I have to cook more. It's fun to just hang out, listen to music and use your hands.

    Take it easy, brother, and thanks for stopping by.

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  3. This has always been one of my favourite soups. Yours is spot on in terms of authentic size of the meatballs, presentation and ingredients.

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