Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Italian Wedding Soup..

I don't follow any "written" recipe.
This is my version of Italian Wedding Soup.

Start by making your meatballs.
Again, use your favorite meatball recipe.
I mixed together ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, salt and pepper
 with a little bit of water.
Only you want to form them into tiny meatballs.

Here's what I started with this morning.
I didn't count but it's a lot!

Don't worry, they all don't go in the soup!
I like to plan ahead.
This amount will make enough tiny meatballs 
for about 4 recipes of soup.


Brown them in a little bit of oil.
Transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towel to drain.
If you're making a lot, you'll want to do this in batches. 

Fill a pot with two containers of chicken broth.
Add chopped carrots, celery and your meatballs to the broth.
I added about 20 meatballs to this recipe.  
Add some frozen spinach, about a third of the package.
BUT please don't tell my children it's spinach, okay?
They think it's just parsley.
You can also add fresh spinach but then my kids wouldn't 
believe it was parsley.  
So for now, I add frozen spinach.  


I let the soup cook for about an hour or so until the meatballs
 are cooked through and the carrots and celery are tender.
About 20 minutes before you're ready to serve the soup,
 cook some pasta to add to your soup
in a separate pot of boiling water.
When the pasta is done, drain and add to the soup.
I used these tiny little "bow ties."
In the past I've added cheese tortellini, DELICIOUS!

Here's the soup, all done.


Doesn't that look GOOD?
Top your bowl of soup with some fresh Parmesan cheese.
So...
What did I do with the rest of the meatballs?
I divided them into three different piles,
wrapped in aluminum foil, placed in a freezer bag.

Now the next time I want to make Italian Wedding Soup, 
I just go to my freezer, take a package of mini meatballs out and start the soup.


Let me know if you make the soup!

ENJOY!