Italian Wedding Soup

Now that it’s fall and its getting cooler, I felt it was appropriate to make soup for dinner. I made this last year for neighbors and it was a huge success. I recommend you try this recipe if you are entertaining because you can make it ahead of time and have it simmer on the stove until your guests come over. 

This is another one of Ina Garten’s recipes from “Back to Basics”. After trying to take pictures of the end product of the Italian Wedding Soup (broth soup with meatballs), I decided that you should look at Ina’s pictures to see what the soup looks like. Mine did not turn out as well due to the reflection of the liquid.

These are not typical meatballs because they have chicken sausage and ground chicken instead of ground beef. To make the bread crumbs from fresh white bread, just pluck it into small pieces. I found it difficult to remove the casing from the sausage, so I used a knife to cut it off because it would not peel easily. Add the bread crumbs and sausage to the ground chicken, garlic, parsley, pecorino cheese, parmesan, milk, egg, and 1 tsp salt and1/2 tsp pepper in a medium bowl. In the end it is not worth it to purchase the pecorino cheese. Just double the parmesan cheese. I found it was the most expensive ingredient.

Mix all of the ingredients with a spoon and stir until well combined. Use your hands to make 1” -1 1/4” meatballs and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan. The recipe says it will make 40 meatballs. I made around 35, but it didn’t make a huge difference overall. Bake them for 30 minutes until lightly browned. They will continue to cook in the soup if you are worried they didn’t cook all the way through. You can set these to the side until you are ready to add them to the soup.

While the meatballs were cooking, I started on the rest of the soup. In a large pot, heat the olive oil and then add the onions, carrots, and celery. I only used 1/2 onion. One of my favorite smells in the kitchen is sautéed onions and celery. Sauté these ingredients until softened. I did not add any of the white wine. Bring the chicken stock to a boil. 

Once it is boiling, pour in the pasta. I used orzo, but you can use any small pasta you have on hand. Add the dill and meatballs to the soup. Season the soup with sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. I did not add the spinach, but you certainly can if you would like. 

The soup has a seasoned broth with “melt in your mouth” meatballs and orzo soaked in the chicken stock. At this point, I wish I had a great picture to show you the delicious soup, but I guess you will have to trust my opinion on the taste.

Enjoy this cozy dinner!