Italian Wedding Soup

It’s been 22 days of soups so far. Most of these soups are from my personal collection that I use at home and in cooking classes. It’s always good to expand your soup repertoire, so I have been reaching out to friends and fellow eaters in search of more soups! Stacey Weeks-Purdy shared her Potato Kale Soup and  Dr. JoAnn Quattrone shared her Lentil Wild Rice and Burdock Soup.

Today, my guest blogger is a new Facebook friend but old acquaintance. Stephanie Susnjara wrote a piece about my work with Better School Food back in 2008. She is a Katonah-based writer and editor, as well as a proud Italian-American whose maternal relatives hail from both Naples and Sicily. This family recipe is often served as a first course on holiday occasions, and also makes a great meal-in-one-pot weekday dinner.

Italian Wedding Soup

1 head escarole
One quart chicken stock (homemade or organic boxed)
1 pound lean ground beef, preferably organic, grass fed
¼ cup grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
½ cup plain or seasoned breadcrumbs
one large egg
¼ parsley
1 cup of cooked small pasta such as pastina or acini de pepe
Salt and pepper

Directions:
In a medium-sized bowl,  mix together meat, egg, breadcrumbs, grated cheese and parsley.

Wash and coarsely chop the escarole. In a large stock pot, heat the chicken stock to a gentle simmer.

While the escarole wilts and cooks down, roll the meatballs into the size of 1-inch marbles. Then drop them into the hot stock. Stir occasionally until the meatballs float to the top–for about five minutes.

Add the pasta. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Serve with extra grated cheese and hot crusty bread.