Wedding Soup

After all of the holiday food festivities it’s so nice to get back to normal eating habits, and there’s no better way to honker down on a cold winter’s afternoon with a piping hot bowl of soup.

I absolutely love soup–I enjoy making it as much as I love eating it, and I love serving it up for others! In fact, it’s a dream of mine to one day open a soup and pie kitchen, where anyone can come for hearty homemade soups and scrumptious pie for dessert, and pay as they are able…someday…

In the meantime, I’d like to share my Wedding Soup recipe, with a disclaimer…First of all, Wedding Soup is an absolute staple between Youngstown and Pittsburgh; folks in NE Ohio and western PA claim the rights to this delicious concoction, and every household has their own recipe, and that’s perfectly OK, as long as it’s made with love! Truth be told, I have only been making Wedding Soup for the past 10 years or so. I’m obviously not Italian, so I don’t have a family recipe, but I’ve always loved this soup with tender chicken and tiny meatballs and wanted to master it for myself; and according to my family, I think I did a pretty good job!

If you haven’t tried making Wedding Soup, I would encourage you to try it at least once. It is a bit time consuming, especially if you make it completely from scratch, but it really is well worth the time and effort! Because there are several steps, including roasting a chicken and making the meatballs, I typically make this on a weekend morning, while tackling other busy work around the house. Before you know it, the soup is ready by lunchtime!

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED:

Roasted Chicken (see recipe here) or you could pick up a pre-roasted chicken at your local supermarket to save a little bit of time.

FOR THE MEATBALLS

1# Ground Beef

1# Ground Pork

1/2 Cup Italian Bread Crumbs

2 eggs (lightly beaten)

1/2 cup milk

1 tbs Italian Spice Blend (Oregano, basil, parsley)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

FOR THE BROTH

2 1/2 qt chicken stock

1 tbs Italian Spice Blend

1 tbs thyme

OTHER INGREDIENTS

1 head escarole (loosely chopped into 1-2″ pieces

Acini de Pepe (cooked al dente and shocked with cold water)

Shaved Parmesan

PREPARATION

In a 5-6 qt stock pot, simmer chicken stock and seasonings on low while preparing everything else.

Roast Chicken and cool enough to remove meat from the bones, and add to the simmering stock.

While the chicken is roasting, prepare your meatballs by combining all of the meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix together with your hands – there’s not better tool for this than your hands!

Roll out tiny meatballs (3/4-1″), and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. You should get @ 100 meatballs! Bake meatballs in a 350 oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and add meatballs to the simmering stock.

While the meatballs are baking, prepare the Acini de Pepe (or any tiny pasta). Be sure to shock the cooked pasta by rinsing with cold water until the pasta is cold. This will stop the cooking process and help prevent the pasta from cooking further and absorbing all your soup stock later. Set cold pasta aside to be added at the end just before serving.

Blanche the escarole in salted boiling water for 30 seconds and shock the greens in an ice water bath. This will bring out the bright green color and also keep them from breaking down in the soup. Please note, you can also substitute other greens for escarole (endive, kale or spinach – I’ve used all of these and equally enjoy all of them). Set escarole aside to be added at the end, just before serving.

By now, the chicken and meatballs should be done and added to the simmering stock. Bring the stock up to a low boil and add the pasta and escarole stirring to incorporate all of the delicious ingredients, and that’s it! Time to grab a bowl and top off with a really good shaved Parmesan, and serve with a side of garlic breadsticks!