Italian Wedding Soup

1~ 5-6# Soup chicken or chicken parts
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
8 Quarts of water
4 Stalks of celery- diced
4-5 Carrots - diced
2 T Basil
1 T Powdered garlic
1 Medium onion – diced
2 T chopped parsley
1 C Strained tomatoes
2 C Finely chopped, cooked escarole (only the
green leafy parts)
Marble sized meatballs (recipe below)

In a large stockpot combine all ingredients except for the escarole and meatballs. Cook until chicken is thoroughly cooked and starting to fall off the bones, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove chicken to cool, and check for flavor. Organic chickens will add more flavor. Add chicken base if needed or two cans of chicken broth and recheck flavor. Adjust seasonings as required. Shred cooled chicken meat and reserve in fridge.

Meatballs

2# Meatloaf mix (beef, pork, veal)
2 C Plain breadcrumbs
2T Parsley flakes
1/2C Finely chopped onion
1/4C Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Eggs
2 t Kosher salt
1/2t Fresh ground pepper

Pre heat oven to 350 F. Mix all ingredients thoroughly and and pinch together to form marble sized meatballs. I use the large end of a mellon baller to slightly overfull, then roll into balls. This will make about 80 small meatballs about .38 oz. each pre-cooked weight. Place meatballs on baking sheets and cook for 20 minutes. Drain meatballs and add to soup. (I will sometimes make the meatballs ahead of time and freeze until I’m ready to make soup.)

Cool soup down and chill overnight in a stainless steel non-reactive container. Skim and discard congealed fat before reheating and adding cooked greens. Reheat the soup. Blanch the escarole them finely chop and add to the soup. If you can’t get escarole, you can use spinach or endive.

Optional Add-Ons:

Chopped small pieces of the chicken from the soup.
3 or more cups of cooked Ancini Di Pepe #28 soup pasta, or other small pasta like Ditalini.
Fresh grated Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese to sprinkle over soup when served.
Small oyster or soup crackers.


Remaining chicken can be made into chicken salad. Dice chicken and add mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, salt, pepper and celery seed. Makes great sandwiches.

Mmmm, I love this soup. A local restaurant makes it with what I think is Israeli couscous.

Beautiful soup, Joe. When I am sick, I often buy some at an Italian restaurant--that is if I am strong enough to leave the house. Now, I can make my own!

I love this soup. Thanks for the recipe.

DW loves this soup, thanks!

My recipe for the meatballs is just like Joe's, but I use Swanson chicken broth. Oh, and I added Israeli couscous, which I loved in it!

The only time I ever make the soup anymore is when my Dad is visiting, since he likes rolling all those little meatballs.

Lee

Aww, your Dad is a cutie pie, Lee

I also like the look of that soup.
Geez it's been a long time since I've made it.

Sass, maybe you can teach your granddaughters to roll the meatballs!

I only used 1.25 lbs. of meatloaf mix (ground beef, gr. pork, gr. veal) and it made a ton of meatballs. Two boxes and 1 small can of chicken broth, half a huge head of escarole. Made 3 quarts of soup!

Lee

That's a good idea!
At this point the only kitchen help I get from them is getting under foot.

Made this again last night, since my sous chef requested it and doesn't mind rolling the tiny meatballs.

I used this recipe, which is similar to JoeV's : https://www.cookingclassy.com/italian-wedding-soup/

Used a meatloaf mix (ground beef, ground pork, ground veal), orzo for the pasta and spinach for the greens.

What you are not seeing in the photo are about 15 meatballs at the bottom of the bowl, LOL!

Lee

Ingredients​

Meatballs​

• 8 oz lean ground beef
• 8 oz ground pork
• 1/2 cup fresh hearty white bread crumbs*
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp minced fresh oregano
• 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan
• 1 large egg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Soup​

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups 1/4-inch diced carrots
• 1 1/4 cups diced yellow onion
• 3/4 cup 1/4-inch diced celery
• 4 cloves garlic , minced (1 1/2 Tbsp)
• 5 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth (I used (2) 32 oz. boxes of broth
• 1 cup dry acini de pepe or orzo pasta**
• 6 oz fresh spinach , chopped
• Finely shredded parmesan , for serving

Instructions​

• For the meatballs:
• Add beef and pork to a large mixing bowl. Add in bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, parmesan, egg, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
• Gently toss and break up mixture with hands to evenly coat and distribute. Shape mixture into very small meatballs, about 3/4 inch to 1 inch and transfer to a large plate.
• Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs and cook until browned, turning occasionally (to brown on 2 or 3 sides), about 4 minutes total.
• Transfer meatballs to a plate lined with paper towels while leaving oil in skillet. Repeat process with remaining meatballs (note that meatballs won't be cooked through at this point, they'll continue to cook through in the soup).
• For the soup:
• 
  
• While meatballs are browning, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots, onions and celery and saute until veggies have softened about 6 - 8 minutes, add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
• Pour in chicken broth, season soup with salt and pepper to taste and bring mixture to a boil. Add in pasta and meatballs, reduce heat to light boil (about medium or medium-low).
• Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until pasta is tender and meatballs have cooked through, about 10 minutes, while adding in spinach during the last minute of cooking. Serve warm, sprinkle each serving with parmesan cheese.