For me, memories are associated with food. I can taste something and immediately it takes me back to my childhood. My parents are foodies and were always cooking something in the kitchen. My mother’s favorite Sundays were the days she spent her time cooking meals in the kitchen for the rest of the week. I believe she still does that now. Food is comforting to me, not just the eating of food, but the preparation of food. It is a process that I have grown up with and I have come to learn as home.
Italian Wedding Soup is one of the flavors that bring me back to my childhood. Now, one thing to note here; although my mother is a genius in the kitchen, she did not make this soup. (This is not a knock on my mother, it is just a fact…it was a good soup that we loved and it happened to come from a can) We ate this soup many times in our house, but not from our kitchen…from the Progresso Soup Kitchen. We would sometimes get the standard Italian Wedding Soup, but most often we would get Chickarina Soup. This is Italian Wedding Soup with the added bits of chicken. It was, in my book, sublime. Only certain stores carried this soup, so the thrill was in the hunt as well. When you found it, you bought 20 cans in fear that you would never find it again.
My mother still eats this soup. She brings it over to our house to eat for lunch when she watches my children and my son loves this soup as well. He likes the meatballs and pretty much eats her entire can of soup. I think he loves it as much as I did. (Makes me smile just a little bit)
So, yesterday I set out to make homemade Italian Wedding Soup. The taste was dead on. I loved it and my son loved it too. The best part is that I had him help me make the entire recipe! His favorite part was making the meatballs. I was surprised at how easy it was to make this soup and can’t wait to share the recipe with all of you. The only thing that I would change is the amount of Anici di Pepe (tiny pasta) that I put used. I would add less next time as the tiny little pastas have now taken over the entire pot of soup. But nonetheless, it still tastes fantastic. On to the recipe!
Mama Allison’s Italian Wedding Soup
Note: I am not sure how many servings this yields, but I will tell you that it makes a lot of soup. I would say at least 15-20 servings…no kidding.
Ingredients:
Meatballs
1 lb Natural/Organic Beef
1 ½ cup natural breadcrumbs (I made my own using crusty bread and a food processor)
1 cage free (organic) egg
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning (blend of Oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, basil, and sage)
1 teaspoon sea salt
Soup
7 cups Organic/Free Range Chicken Broth (Try 365 Organic Chicken Broth)
6 cups water
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 ½ cups carrot (chopped)
3 cups chopped spinach (I used frozen organic chopped spinach, thawed)
1 ½ cups Anici di Pepe (I used organic whole wheat, but you can use another type if you prefer)
Prepared Meatball mixture
Directions:
*Mince garlic
*In a large stock pot add garlic and extra virgin olive oil
*Cook over medium hear until garlic is tender
*Add chicken broth and water, bring to a boil
*While you are waiting for broth to boil, prepare meatball mixture
*In a large bowl add breadcrumbs, Italian Seasoning, salt and mix together
*Add egg and mix
*Add meat and mix by hand for best mixing and distribution of ingredients (don’t forget to wash your hands!!)
*Place meat mixture in a plastic zip lock bag
*When broth has come to a boil, it is time to add the meatballs.
*Cut off the corner of the plastic zip lock bag
*Squeeze about an inch of meat out of bag and cut off using a butter knife
*Let meat drop into boiling broth. Do this until all of the meat has been dropped into the broth
*This will form wonderful little meat balls!
*Cook over high heat for 5 minutes to cook the meatballs
*Lower hear to medium and add carrots and spinach
*Stir and bring the hear back up to high to bring to a boil
*Add Anici di Pepe pasta
*Cook for 8 minutes at a boil
*Simmer soup on low heat for 1 hour (or longer for better flavor, I simmered for 2 hours)
*Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and garlic bread
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