Italian Wedding Soup

Whenever you have a large crowd to feed in a hurry it’s nice to have a hearty, satisfying meal that you can make ahead of the chaos. This Italian wedding soup is my go to when family is in town. We’ve eaten it the night before family weddings, after funeral services and in celebration of the weekend. It works for anything.

My favorite way to make this soup is to make the meatballs one day and make the
rest of the soup the next day. It breaks up some of standing in front of the stove.
This is also a great recipe for cleaning out your veggie drawer. Almost any veggie
can be chopped up and thrown in.

Meatballs
1 lb ground turkey
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
¼ cup chopped flat leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil - for frying the meatballs

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with your hands until
thoroughly combined.

Form 1 - 1 1/2 inch size meatballs with your hands and set aside.
In a large, heavy bottom skillet and add heat the oil olive. I like to use my cast iron skillet
for this step. In batches brown the meatballs on all sides. If making the meatballs a
day ahead of the soup, make sure meatballs are cooked through. Once the meatballs
have browned, set aside.

Soup
2 large carrots, chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
2 small zucchinis, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 15oz can of diced tomatoes
2 quarts chicken stock + 2 cups for reheating
6 oz small noodles such as orecciette or acini di pepe
3 large handfuls of greens (spinach, kale, swiss chard, etc)
Salt and pepper

Chop the carrots, celery and zucchini into small bite size pieces. Add the olive oil to a heavy bottom stock bottom. Once warm add in the carrots and celery, season with
salt and pepper. Cook the carrots and celery until they begin to soften, about 4-5
minutes. Then add the zucchini and tomatoes, cook another 4-5 minutes until the
zucchini begins to soften.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once at a boil add the noodles and
meatballs. Cook for about 8 minutes until the noodles are al dente. The noodles will
absorb some stock so you may want to add a couple of more cups of stock at this
point or when you reheat the soup later.

Once the noodles have cooked through add the greens and stir until the greens have
completely wilted. Also, taste the soup and add salt and pepper as necessary.
Serve the soup in deep soup bowls with a good amount of grated parmesan cheese
and crusty bread to sop up broth.