Italian Wedding Soup

Ravenseyes's Note:

Having tried many different versions of this soup - I came up with my own - less fatty and more taste

• Total Time: 1 hrs 15 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 3 teaspoons garlic (minced)
• 1 medium onion (diced)
• ¾ cup carrot (diced)
• 10 ounces spinach (chopped frozen)
• 12 cups chicken stock
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning mix
• 2 cups pasta (small pearl like pastini)
• 2 lbs extra lean beef (I used ground chicken or turkey at times)
• ½ cup onion (grated)
• 2 eggs
• 1 ½ cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• ¾ cup parmesan cheese (grated)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper (to Taste)

Directions:

1. Prepare your meatballs first, mixing all the ingredients listed starting with 2 lbs ground beef and below- form into small meatballs - less than 1/2" in diameter.
2. Place into a frying pan and cook till 3/4 done or a nice brown coating is developed.
3. Place on paper towels to drain any fats. Remove all fats from the pan and deglaze the frying pan with 1 cup of chicken stock. Reserve this stock.
4. In a large soup pot add 1 tbsp olive oil, add onions, garlic and carrot. Sauté till tender. Approximately 5 to 10 minutes.
5. Add your chicken stock, basil, Italian spice and oregano. Allow 10 minutes of simmer time.
6. Add frozen spinach and allow to melt into soup. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes.
7. Add meatballs and reserved stock from deglazing the fry pan.
8. Cook your pastini to el dente. Add to soup.
9. Serve with fresh grated Parmasan Reggiano cheese.

Reviews

[Dreamer in Ontario]

This soup is fantastic! I used 2 tsp of onion powder instead of grated onion in the meatballs to save a bit of time. Also, I baked the meatballs in the oven for about 12 minutes at 350F rather than frying them. It meant there was no pan to deglaze which I'm sure would enhance the soup even more. The stock was part homemade beef broth (Best Beef Stock Recipe) and part purchased chicken broth. Made for Fall '09 PAC.

[Chef #354881]

I used fresh spinach from my garden, along with fresh basil, & oregano. I used a little fresh Italian parsley in the meatballs. I also used pepe de acini pasta. We all enjoyed this soup!

[LizP]

We love Italian Wedding Soup. My husbands grandmother makes it, but her recipe is a from scratch stock recipe and that takes too much time! This one definitely has a great homemade flavor and it is just as good as grammas. I do think 2 cups of pasta was too much. Once it was cooked, it seemed like it took over the pot. Perhaps the 2 cups is after it is cooked? Anyway, a very small thing when you consider how yummy the soup is! Thank you!