Thursday, February 9, 2012

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

serves 6-8


FOR THE MEATBALLS
1/4 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
1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
3 tablespoons milk
1 extra-large egg, lightly beaten
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper


FOR THE SOUP
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 cup minced yellow onion
 1 cup 1/4 inch-diced carrots (3 carrots)
3/4 cup 1/4 inch-diced celery (2 stalks)
10 cups Homemade Chicken Stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup small pasta such as tubetini or stars
1/4 cup minced fresh dill
12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed


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 and combine gently with a fork.  With a teaspoon, drop 1 ti 1 1/4 inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.  (You should have about 40 meatballs.  They don't have to be perfectly round.)  Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and 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, and celery and saute until softened, 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil.  Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender.  Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute.  Taste for salt and pepper.  Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted.  Ladle into the soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan cheese.


Garten, Ina. Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. New York: Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2008. 72-43.


Notes:


This is one of my absolute favorite soups (probably only second to my grandma or my mom's stew!)
I have yet to use the chicken sausage.  I've generally used sweet/mild Italian sausage.  It comes out perfectly fine!
I've only gotten the dill proportions right on my first try, so I've started making it without, and it still has great flavor. 
I've also used store-bought chicken broth, and then the soup doesn't really require much additional salt, even with low sodium broth.

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