Barefoot Contessa's Italian Wedding Soup

Submitted by Chef #1444026

"Adapted from "Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics". I often freeze half of the meatballs to make it much less time consuming to have this delicious soup for another meal."

 

• Ready In: 30mins
• Ingredients: 19
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• To make the meatballs

• 3⁄4 lb ground chicken
• 1⁄2 lb chicken sausage, casings removed
• 2⁄3 cup fresh white breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1⁄4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
• 1⁄4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, and more for serving
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
• kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

• For the Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup minced yellow onion
• 1 cup diced carrot (3 carrots)
• 3⁄4 cup diced celery (2 stalks)
• 10 cups chicken stock
• 1⁄2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup small shell pasta
• 1⁄4 cup minced fresh dill
• 12 ounces Baby Spinach, washed and trimmed

directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. To make the meatballs~ place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Pecorino, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon or small portion scoop, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (Makes about 40 meatballs.) Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
3. While the meatballs ar baking, prepare the soup broth: heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste, and add salt and pepper if needed. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted.
4. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

Reviews

[Nizz6822]

I did not change a thing! We loved this soup. I used Orzo pasta and it was delicious. Thank you for posting!

 

[Sherri35]

Delicious! A Barefoot Contessa recipe is always a sure hit. My family really enjoyed it! Here are the changes I made based on what I had: I used a 20 oz. pkg. of Butterball Turkey Sausage links (I removed the casings) in place of the ground chicken and chicken sausage. I couldn't find Pecorino-Romano cheese so I just used all Romano. And the idea of 12 oz. of spinach freaked out my husband and daughter :), so I only used about a handful of baby spinach. My 2 cartons of chicken broth came to only 8 cups, so I added 2 cups water and used a little 4.6 oz. tub of the Knorr Homestyle Stock. Making the meatballs is a little time consuming so I love the idea of making them ahead and freezing them. That would make it so much easier to have this for dinner on a weeknight after work. The cleanup time would be quicker too! Thanks for posting this.