Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup is a dish prepared with vegetables and meat; for vegetables the one mainly used are spinach, endive, escarole, kale and/or lettuce; for meat it is usually meatballs and/or sausages.

Italian Wedding Soup may sound like a kind of dish that is served during Italian Weddings well it’s not, the term came from the Italian words “minestra maritata” which means “married soup”, a term used to reference the flavour this soup gives by combining or marrying greens and meat into a wonderful concoction that is called the Italian Wedding Soup.

Though the name specifically states Italian do you know that this dish also is popular in Toledo, Spain? The key differences are that the Spanish version has more meat like most Spanish stews.

This dish is a very popular in the United States, where it is common to see in the menus of most Italian restaurants. It’s a dish that mainly contains vegetables and meat; for vegetables the one mainly used are spinach, endive, escarole, kale and/or lettuce; for meat it is usually meatballs and/or sausages. Pasta is also used like orzo, fusilli, cavatelli or pastina then cooked in a clear chicken-based broth served with a generous amount of parmesan cheese.

Italian Wedding Soup

• Author: Raymund
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 6 1x
• Category: Main Course
• Cuisine: Italian

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Description

Italian Wedding Soup is a dish prepared with vegetables and meat; for vegetables the one mainly used are spinach, endive, escarole, kale and/or lettuce; for meat it is usually meatballs and/or sausages.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Meatballs

• 250 g minced pork
• 250 g minced beef
• 250 g Italian style pork sausages, removed in casings
• 2/3 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp parsley leaves, chopped
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil

Soup

• 300 g baby spinach
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 litre good chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup orzo
• 1 large white onion, minced
• grated Parmesan, to garnish
• salt

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Instructions

1. In a large bowl mix together all meatball ingredients by hand. Form into meatballs then set aside.
2. Prepare a large pan, heat small amount of olive oil then shallow fry meatballs just until they are light brown on all sides. Set it aside.
3. Using the olive oil in the pan, pour this into a soup pot. Add the onions, celery and carrots, sauté for 3 minutes until the vegetables sweat.
4. Pour the white wine then the chicken stock. Bring to a boil then add the meatballs, simmer in low heat for 10 minutes then add the orzo, continue to cook for 8 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
5. Add the spinach, season with salt then give it a mix then turn heat off.
6. Serve in bowl topped with a generous serving of Parmesan cheese.

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