Sunday Slow Soupers # 4: Italian Wedding Soup

Have you voted in the photo contest?

Four of our trip pictures have been entered in a photo contest run by the good folks at easycar.com. Oh happy day - all four photos are currently in the top 10 out of 362 photos. You can vote for each by clicking here, (remember 10 is a good vote! *smile*)  here, here, and here.

Yes, you CAN vote for all four photos.

You can only vote once from any given IP address - this means you can vote once for EACH pic from both at home and at work! If you have two computers networked at home, you can only vote on one of them, however. If you have a Blackberry though, that is a third vote. If you send these links to friends, relatives, or people who bug you with unwanted e-mails - just think of the of votes! It boggles the mind.

Heck, do what I do - vote at every hotel, conference centre, and friend's house in which you find a PC attached to the internet. Don't be shy at all. :-)

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This week it was Terry's turn to select the soup recipe for the soup making slowtravelers. I knew that we would be away over the weekend so I made this soup earlier in the week. Italian Wedding soup has always been one of Paul's favourite soups so I was looking forward to this week's soup.

 

Generally when we've had Italian Wedding soup before it has basically been a chicken noodle soup with some mini-meatballs in it. This was a far more complex - and delicious soup with the addition of additional flavours.

 

I know that we'll never go back to the 'old' Italian Wedding soup again!

 

I followed the recipe as written with two changes: I baked the meatballs in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes to decrease the fat content, and I used some cubed pancetta instead of the bacon.

 

Enjoy!

 

Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs:

2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
3 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 pound ground turkey (or ground meat of choice)
2 tablespoons olive oil
spices: 3/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together, and roll into 1″ balls. Saute in the olive oil until lightly browned on the outside. Set aside.

Soup ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 cloves minced garlic
3 diced strips of turkey bacon (or regular bacon)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Marsala wine
2 quarts of chicken stock
1 cup orzo
1 tablespoon dried oregano
4 fresh leaves of basil, chopped
3 cups of arugula
1/2 cup shredded Parmigiano for garnish

Saute the onions, celery, carrots, and garlic in large soup pot for 5 - 6 minutes. Add the turkey bacon and the balsamic vinegar, and let all the flavors mix and blend.

Add the Marsala and let this cook down a little. When it is almost evaporated, add the chicken stock, orzo, meatballs, and oregano. Simmer this for about 15 minutes, til the orzo is soft.

Add the basil and arugula and cook for about 1 more minute. Serve with a sprinkling of Parmigiano for garnish.

Comments

[Kathryn Gerth]

Great idea on cooking the meatballs in the oven first...your soup looks really good. I think I can find a place for this on the menu this week...it is definitely soup weather here now. Thanks for posting the recipe.

[JDeQ]

Kathryn - I know what you mean about soup weather. I can't believe how cold it got! BRRRRRRR

[Kathryn Gerth]

It was perfect...thanks again for the recipe, definitely the best one I have for this soup now...thanks, Jerry...Kayte

[JDeQ]

Kayte - I am so pleased that the soup worked for you. We've had leftovers twice now! *smile*

[Busby SEO Test]

this will be a good for the groom and the bride

[Busby SEO Test]

this is what we called sharing some good opinion so thanks a lot i hope you could post more article

[JDeQ]

Thanks for visiting Busby - there will be lots of other great postings . . . (great being a relative term, of course!).