Photo: Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 2 slices stale white sandwich bread, crusts removed
- 3/4 pound ground turkey
- 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano, plus extra for serving
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Soup:
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 rib celery, diced
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 head escarole (about 1 pound), coarsely chopped
- 8 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
- 1/2 cup chopped canned plum tomatoes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
For the meatballs: Grate bread on a box grater or pulse into crumbs in a food processor. Place in a large bowl with 1/3 cup cold water. Let sit until water is absorbed. Mix in ground turkey, 1/4 cup Pecorino, parsley, egg, garlic and 1 teaspoon salt and mix. Season with pepper. Gently form into 3/4 to 1-inch meatballs, using lightly floured hands. Place on a baking sheet, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the meatballs and brown turning occasionally. Transfer to a platter.
For the soup: Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a pot. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and red pepper and cook 3 minutes.
Stir in the escarole and cook until just wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and tomatoes; bring to a gentle simmer. Return the meatballs to pot, cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into warm bowls. Drizzle some olive oil and pecorino cheese over each serving.
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By dragofamily_3421217
Novi, MI
on January 13, 2013
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I doubled this recipe for a crowd and everyone loved it! Even the teenagers liked this soup. I didn't change anything but I did add 1/4 cup of pastine cooked in a separate pot then added to soup. Excellent recipe!
By cgoob22
on November 26, 2012
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This recipe was very time consuming. It took forever to roll out the meatballs, probably at least 30 minutes. My meat mixture was very wet and sticky, which made rolling meatballs tough. I used wheat bread to make the bread crumbs b/c that's all I had at home, perhaps this was my downfall? Browning the meatballs also took a great deal of time and was a pain to do. Overall the meatball part took me a solid hour, much more time than the recipe mentions. I am an avid soup maker, but not as quick with intense meat prep like this.
The finished product was pretty tasty, but somewhat bland. It needs something more but I cannot put my finger on what is missing. I did like the turkey meatballs much better than the typical beef found in this soup, but nothing else about this dish jumped out at me.
By stmstmstm_8562766
Richmond Hill, GA
on November 12, 2011
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I loved this recipe. I baked the meatballs for 15 min. at 425 instead of frying them. I also substituted raw spinach for the escarole. I doubled the recipe for a church function, and everybody loved it! Tonight I'm just having baked turkey meatballs for sandwiches because the meatballs are fantastic all by themselves.
Read all 16 reviews