Italian Wedding Soup

There are times when I don't want to be bothered with cooking a meal that's fussy or complicated. A soup, salad, and breadstick kind of night is the perfect quick fix solution. Soups are great to make because you basically toss everything in a pot and allow time and the ingredients to do all the work.

I recently tried out an Italian Wedding soup recipe courtesy of Ina Garten's, Barefoot Contessa ( via Food Network). I did change a few ingredients due to my personal taste preferences. Overall, this soup is tasty, light, and very satisfying. It has everything you need in a complete meal...veggies, protein, carbs, and lots of flavor!

Ingredients

For the meatballs:  

• 6 chicken italian sausage links, casings removed
• 2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:

• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 cup minced yellow onion
• 1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 10 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup small pasta such as tubetini or stars
• 2-3 teaspoons chopped fresh basil 
• 12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For 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, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs. They don't have to be perfectly round.) Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.


In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 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 basil and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

*Note: I always freeze the left-overs in a freezer safe container...perfect time saver for future meals*