I swore I would never be the girl who couldn’t live without her smartphone, but late Tuesday evening, while strolling the aisles of Whole Foods, she was me. I knew that meatball week meant Ina’s Italian Wedding Soup was on the menu, but I didn’t have the list of ingredients for the recipe with me. iPhone to the rescue. I pulled up the recipe, threw everything in my cart, and saved myself from yet another weeknight trip to the grocery store.
Which means I never opened the cookbook with the recipe until the night I made the soup. I jot notes in the margins of all my cookbooks, and the first time I made this dish (February 3, 2009), I wrote the following, “Would be perfect if you’re sick.”
What do you know? The night I made this, I was sick with a rotten cold that left me chugging orange juice as if my life depended on it. Sometimes, you just know that the dish you make is going to turn out exactly the way you needed it to.
With all that green, it’s not too bad for you either.
I’ve made this soup several times, and like almost all of Ina’s dishes, there are plenty of substitutes you can make here. I’m not the biggest fan of sausage, unless it’s top notch. If you don’t have something great at your disposal, only use ground chicken. No Romano cheese? Up the Parmesan. And any grain you can name will work just fine in this soup. Small pasta, rice, bown rice, Israeli couscous, you name it. Sick of adding spinach to everything you make? Shake this up with some kale instead. Personalize this however you see fit.
To make Ina’s Italian Wedding Soup for 8, you will need:
- 3/4 pound ground chicken
- 1/2 pound chicken sausage, casings removed
- 2/3 C bread crumbs (I use Italian seasoned)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 T chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 C grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 T milk
- 1 extra large egg, lightly beaten
- Kosher salt
- pepper
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 10 C chicken stock
- 1/2 C dry white wine
- 1 C small pasta (but rice would work too)
- 12 oz. baby spinach leaves
To make the meatballs, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment. Mix first 9 ingredients, plus 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper in a bowl with your hands. Form small (1 inch) meatballs and place them on baking sheet. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.
Meanwhile, heat oil in bottom of large stock pot. Saute onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add wine to deglaze the pan, and chicken stock. Bring to boil. Add pasta and cook 5-6 minutes (if you use rice, you’ll need to cook it longer). Add meatballs to soup and cook 1 minute. Add spinach and cook one more minute till wilted. Serve hot in large bowls.
