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Cooking Notes
maryanne
Lowered a steamer basket into the broth and cooked the pasta. Drained it and set aside with a splash of olive oil to keep from sticking and a sprinkle of dill. Then proceeded w adding the meatballs to the broth and finishing w spinach and lemon. Added the pasta to soup bowls and poured soup over pasta at the table. Fun presentation and keeps pasta from getting soggy in the soup.
RB
Made it exactly as written plus two cans of cannellini beans. Used fresh basil, lemon wedge and fresh Parmesan to finish per the recipe. Delicious.
Carol Holland
My kids called this seaweed soup and loved it when I made it from scratch. Easy version : low salt chicken broth from supermarket, Trader Joe's frozen precooked Italian meatballs halved or quartered, fresh or frozen baby spinach or other greens, pasta, grated Italian cheese. Add lemon, herbs, olive oil if desired. Fast and delicious.
Rose
This was excellent! The lemon made this soup! I do prefer smaller meatballs. Knowing that, I made 30 and next time I will reduce the size and increase the number to 60&/-. For me, the meatballs in wedding soup should be small bites.I highly recommend this soup! Start with a good stock and you’re all set. Mangia!
Monicat
My grandmother made "meatball soup." From what I understand, wedding soup is not so named because it is served at Italian weddings, but because the flavors of stock and bitter greens "marry" well to produce a harmony of flavors. "Minestra Maritata"Grandma's recipe uses mini beef meatballs, dropped raw into the pot of broth and greens on hand - romaine, escarole, kale - usually not spinach.Freeze batches of minis raw on sheet trays and then in zip bags for later use for soup in a flash.
Gwen
Per post by Mitch Weiser:Giada De Laurentis Meat Balls:2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs3 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature1 large egg, at room temperature1/2 teaspoon dried oregano1/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano1/2 pound ground sirloin or ground dark meat turkeyolive oil for frying+ 2 cans cannellini4 garlicred pepper flakesorzo
Stacey
I do not understand why people totally alter the recipe and then give it bad reviews.
Randy
Agree. Silicone mats are OK up to 425-450 degrees but higher heat will do permanent damage to them. Household broilers operate between 550 and 650 degrees. Aluminum foil would be the better option.I find it simpler and faster to saute the meatballs in a skillet until browned, (just shake the pan to brown all over) and then add them to the soup minus the grease.
Elizabeth Cooks
Nearly perfect soup. Our recommendations: make smaller meatballs (size of walnuts with yield of 38-40), cut down broth by 4 cups, add the dill, the lemon's zest AND juice to the soup. We did add the minced onion to the meatballs, and nickel-slices of carrots to the broth before adding the meatballs and spinach. We did use the orzo, but before I serve the leftovers, I'm going to cook up some farfalline and add it. I'd prefer a bit more pasta presence, I think. Fabulous!
Mitch Weiser
Made the Meatballs in the style of Giada De Laurentis from her sarto di riso recipe (the best meatballs IMHO). Used baby spinach and basil. Orzo for the pasta. Added 2 cups cannellini beans, 4 cloves garlic, and red pepper flakes. Came out great! Definitely going to add to the rotation and make again.
James
One of the most delicious things I've cooked in a while. This was perfect. I roasted my chicken bones for half an hour at 450, and it produced the richest, roundest stock I've ever made. After that, the rest kind of took care of itself. Great meal. Oh, one other thing: my son is allergic to eggs, so I used 1/4 C whole milk ricotta to bind the meatballs. Worked just as well.
Mike D in NC
I had some extra time and the ingredients on hand so I started this by sweating two onions, some grated carrot and celery. I added a can of great northern beans, a few handfuls of chopped kale and used some Butterball Turkey Meatballs I had in the freezer. Wow, for so little prep and not a lot of stovetop attention, this was simply out of the park good. A good grate of parmesan cheese on top and some crusty bread and dinner is served (and lunch tomorrow!). A keeper.
MD
Lowered a steamer basket into the broth and cooked the pasta. Drained it and set aside with a splash of olive oil to keep from sticking and a sprinkle of dill. Then proceeded w adding the meatballs to the broth and finishing w spinach and lemon. Added the pasta to soup bowls and poured soup over pasta at the table. Fun presentation and keeps pasta from getting soggy in the soup.
mjan
Great recipe, but making smaller meatballs (1-inch or even smaller) is more in keeping with the soup's history. And a quick saute of the meatballs in a little olive oil will get you a more uniform sear.
Lisa B
Followed the recipe as written but for doubling the spinach and using farfalline pasta. The meatballs were delicious. I plan on making a triple batch of the meatballs and freezing them. An easy weeknight meal.
Gloria R
Easy to make and tasty. I agree with the others, next time I will make the meatballs a bit smaller. I also only used 10 cups of broth which was plenty for four servings.
katya
Sweat down shallots/onion and celery before adding broth. Make small meatballs.
Andy
The meatballs were delicious. Using turkey makes it easier than pork to make them tough, so watch that. But they were delicious. Browning them well and using plenty of garlic, I used some for my picky son to make a meatball grinder w/o telling him they were Turkey. He did not notice at all.I am on a diet, so I swapped the pasta w/ barley. Delicious. No-one said a word. I also added cannellini beans. Results were great. Definitely one I'll make again.
Kasey
Wish I'd made a double batch of meatballs to have some for now & another round later!
Lynne
This will definitely feed more than 4 people unless they have huge appetites- I went the extra step and added 3 stalks of celery and about 6 mini carrots chopped up small. I might try it with a lower sodium chicken broth next time. Used baby kale chopped. I loved it and so did the family.
scrumptious, perfect soul warming simply soup
Would recommend less orzo — it absorbs the broth and if you want leftovers, it continues to absorb till the grains are inflatedLeft the panko out of the meatballs by accident, still worked great. Don’t forgo the lemon zest, it elevates the dish If you add vegetables, add them five minutes after the pastaMake the meatballs significantly smaller than you think too— you don’t want to be cutting into meatballs with a spoon
D Lee
Delicious. Made with homemade broth (see NYT simple chicken broth). And aside from making very small meatballs (always my preference, made ~48) and keeping everything (orzo, meatballs) outside of the soup so that I can assemble and serve as needed, followed the recipe pretty accurately. My crowd loved the meatballs straight out of the oven and has now asked me to make them as appetizers, solo.
socalorie
Surprising how delicious and easy this is ....
Momosaurus
Delicious recipe! I cut the broth to 8 cups and it makes much more sense. Also added veggies. Will make again for sure!
LindaLea
Similar to what my Italian family made except that we used veal instead of turkey and escarole instead of spinach.
broth
8 cups instead of 12
Kal
This soup is curing my allergies. I did add onion to the turkey as it really isn't much extra work to grate up a small, white onion and the flavor it adds is worth the extra minute of effort. I also pan-seared my turkey meatballs but mostly because my broiling drawer is tiny. I think if I made it again I would add some big chunks of ginger to the broth while it is boiling. ALSO, add more pasta than 3/4 cups or decrease the broth. The ratio was off.
CP
Made with ground chicken and was delicious. Added onion, carrots, and celery to the broth.
Chin
This was really good! A lighter alternative to the traditional beef and pork meatballs but still delicious. I added diced carrots and onion. Made the meatballs the night before to save time
natalie
Delicious! I made this as directed, except for two small technique adjustments -- which I recommend. I split the meatballs between two cast iron pans (which wash up and hold up better than aluminum) and I baked rather than broiled (perhaps you also worry about your broiler?). Baked at 450/500 for about 5 min on each side and they browned up nicely. I'll definitely make this again!
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