Italian Wedding Soup

Cold weather calls for warm, filling soup. What better than yummy Italian wedding soup? If you are avoiding dairy or eggs, feel free to leave them out. It still comes out excellently! My family loved this and we had more than enough to freeze for later. Hope you enjoy it too!

Italian Wedding Soup — YUM!

Italian Wedding Soup

For the meatballs:

3/4 pound ground chicken
1/2 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/4 C grated Pecorino Romano (optional)
1/4 C grated Parmesan (optional)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1 C minced yellow onion
3 carrots, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
2 stalks celery , cut into 1/4 inch pieces
10 C chicken stock
1/2 C dry white wine
1/4 C minced fresh dill
12 ounces baby spinach, washed, trimmed and chopped
2 large eggs (optional)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the meatballs, place the ground chicken, sausage, garlic, parsley, cheeses, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. You should have about 40 meatballs. Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil.  Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh spinach and cook for 1 minute, until the spinach is just wilted. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.