Italian Wedding Soup

Soup pots on stove Tiny meatballs, chicken broth, escarole and more in this old-time recipe from my husband's grandmother. Serve soup with grated Parmesan to sprinkle on top. Make a big batch - it freezes well!

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 8 servings

Source: My husband's Grandmother, Esther

Ingredients:

1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
2 Tbsp fine dry bread crumbs
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
6 to 10 basil leaves, chopped fine (or 1/2 tsp. dried)
2 Tbsp finely chopped onion (or 1/2 tsp. onion powder)
12 cups chicken broth (or two 46 oz. cans)
1/3 cup finely chopped carrot
2 medium-size heads escarole, washed well and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1/2 cup orzo or pastine (acini de pepe)
Grated Parmesan cheese to serve

Steps:

In a large pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Meanwhile make the meatballs, chop the carrot and wash, slice and drain the escarole.
In a medium bowl, combine meat, egg, bread crumbs, 1 Tbsp. Parmesan, basil and onion. Meat should be a little more "wet" than dry. Mix well. Roll meat into 1/2 inch (or smaller) balls and set on a plate.
Add meatballs slowly to the chicken broth, stirring occasionally so they don't stick together. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the carrot, then escarole and lower to a slow boil.

When escarole is limp, add the orzo. Cook for about 10 minutes until the orzo is tender.

Note: Make the meatballs by pinching off small pieces. This is the time consuming part, the rest is a breeze. Esther said great pride was taken in making them very small! Wet hands make rolling them easier. TIP: Escarole is sandy. Make sure you wash well, drain and shake off excess water.

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Comment

Donna
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 555 Posts

January 25, 20141 found this helpful

It's been snowing and cold here all week so I decided to make this soup. I used 12 chicken boullion cubes and 12 cups water in a crockpot and a large can of turnip greens since I was too lazy to leave the house to buy escarole and it turned out great!

I even added some zucchini cut small to get more veggies in us! This is a keeper!

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