SW: Married Soup

We've made it through four amazing days of soup, and today, you get two more recipes to try!

When I tried this recipe, I wasn't going to use it, but my husband has only told me about fifteen times this week that it was amazing and he loved it and why won't I use it? So I'm going to use it. I thought it was tasty, but I wasn't going to create a song and dance routine for it, you know what I mean? I trust you can make your own decision.

Italian Wedding Soup really is quite amazing. Wedding Soup is a chicken-based broth with meat (usually meatballs or sausage) and greens. Then you can add about a kajillion other things, including beans, lentils, pasta, tomatoes, etc. The Italian should actually read “Married Soup,” probably referring to the relationship between the greens and the meat. (Or so wikipedia suggests.) So, I'm calling mine Married Soup because I think that sounds fun.

The meatballs in the recipe I originally used weren't as flavorful as I normally like them, so in the future, I'll substitute my own meatballs. I've modified the original recipe to make it more like mine.

Oh! And before I forget! Two links I wanted to share with you:

---Besides John's cornbread, I really enjoyed bread from this cookbook with our soup. I have talked about this cookbook before. I am in love.

---My friend Rebecca posted this super yummy looking soup on her blog. It is difficult to find green chile in this neck of the woods, especially the hot variety, but some grocery stores carry mild, and I have found a little teeny tiny can of hot at a specialty store.

Come back later! My friend Andrea is going to close us out with a super tasty offering. 

Married Soup-Friday

Modified Recipe.

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

• 1 small onion, Audrey-style, aka food-processed to smithereens
• 1 teaspoon garlic, food processed with the onion
• 1/2 tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Italian bread crumbs, enough to make the meatballs cohesive
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 1 lb. ground beef
• Freshly ground black pepper
  

Soup:

• 12 cups water with chicken base/bouillon added
• 1 pound endive, escarole, or kale; coarsely chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

Directions:
Meatballs:

1. Add onion, garlic, parsley, oregano, egg, salt, and bread crumbs to a bowl and blend. Add the cheese and beef. With your hands, form meat into 1-inch diameter meatballs.
2. Set aside. Don't cook!

Soup:

1. Bring water and bouillon to a boil in a large pot over medium-high. Add meatballs and greens until the meatballs are cooked through and the greens are tender. Maybe 8 minutes? Maybe 10?
   
2. While that's cooking, whisk the eggs and cheese in a small bowl. When the meatballs are done, stir soup in a circular motion and add egg mixture slowly. Ideally, it will create thin ribbons of egg-cheese goodness throughout the soup. It may not look pretty. That's okay.
   
3. Salt and pepper to taste, then serve with parmesan as a garnish.
   
4. Yum!