116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Mad About Food: Cozy up to this hardy, delicious Italian Wedding Soup
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Fall is here. Fall is literally my favorite season! Crisp temperatures, bonfires, trips to the pumpkin patch or apple orchard and Halloween. It is also my favorite because fall is soup and casserole season. I’m so excited to share this month’s recipe for Italian Wedding Soup.
I love fresh Italian cuisine. It has so much flavor, color, textures and the aromas are delicious too! For my recipe, I substituted the traditional beef/pork with ground turkey and it was still amazing. My only regret was the noodles. When I made it, I didn’t know that the trick was to boil the noodles separately for 5 to 7 minutes and then add them to the soup. If you don’t do that, your noodles will absorb all of your broth and you don’t want that.
Keep in mind that a little goes a long way, so when shopping for ingredients be mindful of that. Two pounds of meat made a huge stew pot. With this recipe, you can choose to explore and use your imagination to make it your own. If you’ve never had this soup, I’d encourage you to try the traditional version first, so you’ll know what it should taste like.
I also added a touch of heavy cream to my recipe, which is not traditional. The traditional version’s broth is more of a clear broth. Italian wedding soup from start to finish can be a one pot wonder and ready for the table in 30 minutes.
The reason I say “it can be a one pot wonder” is because, traditionally, the meatballs are boiled in raw form, I, however, choose to pan fry my meatballs in extra-virgin olive oil, browning both sides before adding them to the boiling broth.
It seems I’ve talked up an appetite, so let’s roll up our sleeves, wash our hands and get started creating our very own version of Italian Wedding Soup.
Reach Michelle Madden at Da Munchie Plug LLC on Facebook.
Recipe
Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound ground Italian turkey sausage
1 pound box of bow tie pasta or broken lasagna
1 package/small bag of carrot match sticks
1 pound bag fresh baby spinach
2 1/2 quarts chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried basil
3 tablespoons minced onion
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup shredded Italian blend cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream (to be added at the very end of the cooking process)
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
Olive oil to fry meatballs in
Directions
In a medium bowl combine the ground turkey, ground Italian turkey, eggs, breadcrumbs, cheeses, basil and onion, then form the mixture into 1/4-inch meatballs.
Brown the meatballs in a frying pan using just enough oil to coat the pan. Brown on both sides (if desired) and then set aside.
In a large stock or soup pot add water and boil your noodles for about 3 to 5 minutes and then drain. This keeps the noodles from absorbing all of your broth.
Next, in that same pot, boil your chicken broth, meatballs, carrots, spinach and pasta.
Let that go on a low boil for about 10 minutes or until your pasta is al dente and your meatballs are fully cooked with no pink in the middle. Finally, add your cream and stir.
Serve the soup in bowls with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top.
Source: Michelle Madden
Daily Newsletters