italian wedding soup {with mini-meatballs, spinach + pasta}

i love soup. love love love it. as my husband can attest, there are days when i literally eat soup for breakfast, lunch *and* dinner. my love for soup goes way back — in elementary school, i wasn’t much of a fan of sandwiches, so my mom would heat up soup in the morning, pack it into a thermos, + send me off to school with a delicious lunch. i remember the other kids, with their peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwiches, saying, ‘that’s so cool that your mom packed you chicken noodle soup for lunch!” well, my adoration of soup has only grown since then, if you can believe it.

i have eaten many a bowl of italian wedding soup — which combines two of my favorite things: meatballs and soup — but had never made it myself until last week. there were tons of different recipe variations online, so i decided to go with Ina Garten’s version, as I’ve never made a recipe of hers that didn’t turn out wonderfully. and again, she didn’t disappoint! this soup is delicious, + the flavors only get deeper + more complex a day or two later. it made a ton of soup, none of which went to waste – i ate every last bit of it over 3 or 4 days. yup, it was that good! so if you’re looking for a fabulous soup for those chilly fall + winter evenings, look no further — this soup is amazing!

italian wedding soup

makes 8 servings, adapted from barefoot contessa

ingredients

3/4 pound ground chicken
1/2 pound chicken sausage, casings removed
2/3 cup fresh white bread crumbs
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated pecorino romano
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for serving
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
kosher salt + freshly ground black pepper

for the soup:
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 cup minced yellow onion
1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
10 cups chicken stock (i used homemade)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta such as tubetini or stars (i used ditalini)
12 ounces baby spinach, washed + trimmed

directions

preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

for the meatballs, place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, pecorino, parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, + 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl + combine gently with a fork. drop 1/2” – 1” mini-meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (you should have about 75 mini-meatballs.) bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through + lightly browned. set aside.

in the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. add the onion, carrots, + celery + saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. add the chicken stock + wine + bring to a boil. add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook until the pasta is tender (refer to cooking time on the pasta box). add the meatballs to the soup + simmer for 5 minutes. season to taste with salt + pepper. stir in the fresh spinach + cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted.

ladle into soup bowls + sprinkle each serving with extra grated parmesan.

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