Yesterday, I made some Italian Wedding Soup with homemade meatballs to eat for dinners this week. I knew it was going to be a pretty dreary couple of days, so soup sounded perfect. I was pleased with how the meatballs came out. These are almost up there with my Gram's meatballs. I'll never make them like her just for the fact that it's her cooking but these are pretty darn close.
Almost-Gram's Meatballs
1lb. lean ground beef
1lb. ground pork or mild Italian sausage
2 eggs
4 garlic cloves, grated to a paste
1/4c. grated onion
1/2c. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 slices of white bread, crust removed and torn into pieces
1c. Pecorino Romano cheese freshly grated
Splash of milk
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Start by adding parsley, grated onion and garlic, eggs and bread to a bowl. Pour a splash of milk over the bread and season with salt and pepper.
Mix all ingredients together until a loose paste forms.
Add ground beef, pork and cheese.
Lightly mix by hand. Don't overwork the mix.
Shape into balls. Lightly wet your hands when the meat starts sticking to you. Since these were made with the intention of soup, they were made smaller. 55 of them made the tray.
The ones that didn't make the tray got baked in the oven for a snack while I cut the vegetables.
Now for the soup. I used:
6 carrots
6 ribs of celery
1 onion diced
3 garlic cloves
4qts of chicken broth (I used Chicken Bone Broth)
I large bunch of escarole, washed and chopped
Italian seasoning
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of Acini de Pepe pasta (Added the next day)
Start by browning your meatballs. Place some olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot and working in batches, brown the meatballs a few minutes each side. Add more olive oil as needed. These will finish cooking in the soup. You can skip this step if desired and add the raw meatballs directly to the broth. I'm looking for added extra flavor so I decided to brown them.
Set the meatballs off to the side when done and then add your carrots, celery and onion to the pot. The vegetables should steam and lift up and browned bits stuck to the bottom. Add a splash of broth if needed. Cook the vegetables until slightly softened, about 6-7 minutes. Afterwards add the minced garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes.
After vegetables have softened, add chicken stock and seasonings and bring to a boil.
After the broth has come to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and add meatballs. They will float when finished, this only takes a few minutes if you browned them beforehand.
Here's the escarole chopped up and ready to add to the soup. Escarole is bitter when raw but loses it's bitterness when cooked. Spinach, endive, chard or kale can be substituted here although escarole is traditional.
Escarole is added to the soup. Cover and let cook a few minutes.
Here's the finished soup with the Acini de Pepe pasta. Delicious!! Served it with some buttered bread on the side. I added some grated Pecorino Romano to the top but it melted before I could take a picture, so I just mixed it in before taking this photo.
Note: This soup was made with the intention of eating it a few days for dinner so the pasta was made separately today. If you are serving immediately, you can add the pasta once you bring the broth to a boil. Once cooled, the pasta will continue to absorb the broth resulting in a thickened and gloopy stew. Make the pasta separate if you want to avoid this. Also if using spinach, you can add it the next day when reheating. It's not as firm as escarole so it will wither pretty badly after being reheated a few days.
Thanks for looking.
Joe
Almost-Gram's Meatballs
1lb. lean ground beef
1lb. ground pork or mild Italian sausage
2 eggs
4 garlic cloves, grated to a paste
1/4c. grated onion
1/2c. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 slices of white bread, crust removed and torn into pieces
1c. Pecorino Romano cheese freshly grated
Splash of milk
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Start by adding parsley, grated onion and garlic, eggs and bread to a bowl. Pour a splash of milk over the bread and season with salt and pepper.
Mix all ingredients together until a loose paste forms.
Add ground beef, pork and cheese.
Lightly mix by hand. Don't overwork the mix.
Shape into balls. Lightly wet your hands when the meat starts sticking to you. Since these were made with the intention of soup, they were made smaller. 55 of them made the tray.
The ones that didn't make the tray got baked in the oven for a snack while I cut the vegetables.
Now for the soup. I used:
6 carrots
6 ribs of celery
1 onion diced
3 garlic cloves
4qts of chicken broth (I used Chicken Bone Broth)
I large bunch of escarole, washed and chopped
Italian seasoning
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 box of Acini de Pepe pasta (Added the next day)
Start by browning your meatballs. Place some olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot and working in batches, brown the meatballs a few minutes each side. Add more olive oil as needed. These will finish cooking in the soup. You can skip this step if desired and add the raw meatballs directly to the broth. I'm looking for added extra flavor so I decided to brown them.
Set the meatballs off to the side when done and then add your carrots, celery and onion to the pot. The vegetables should steam and lift up and browned bits stuck to the bottom. Add a splash of broth if needed. Cook the vegetables until slightly softened, about 6-7 minutes. Afterwards add the minced garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes.
After vegetables have softened, add chicken stock and seasonings and bring to a boil.
After the broth has come to a boil, reduce heat to medium low and add meatballs. They will float when finished, this only takes a few minutes if you browned them beforehand.
Here's the escarole chopped up and ready to add to the soup. Escarole is bitter when raw but loses it's bitterness when cooked. Spinach, endive, chard or kale can be substituted here although escarole is traditional.
Escarole is added to the soup. Cover and let cook a few minutes.
Here's the finished soup with the Acini de Pepe pasta. Delicious!! Served it with some buttered bread on the side. I added some grated Pecorino Romano to the top but it melted before I could take a picture, so I just mixed it in before taking this photo.
Note: This soup was made with the intention of eating it a few days for dinner so the pasta was made separately today. If you are serving immediately, you can add the pasta once you bring the broth to a boil. Once cooled, the pasta will continue to absorb the broth resulting in a thickened and gloopy stew. Make the pasta separate if you want to avoid this. Also if using spinach, you can add it the next day when reheating. It's not as firm as escarole so it will wither pretty badly after being reheated a few days.
Thanks for looking.
Joe
