By Francesca Montillo, ISDA Food + Travel Writer 

A favorite soup of mine, that is always in the rotation during winter months in my home, is Italian Wedding Soup with Turkey Meatballs. Turkey, as opposed to beef or beef & veal, lends itself well to this soup as I personally prefer lighter tasting meatballs in soup.

There are a few steps to this soup, but you will be well rewarded for your efforts. Traditionally, escarole is used, but you can sub other greens, such as swiss chard, kale or spinach.

If you have read my recipes before, you know I’m all up for a kitchen shortcut that doesn’t compromise the final dish, so you may be wondering why I don’t just boil the escarole with all the other veggies, it would certainly be acceptable. My personal preference is to boil it separately because escarole is a bitter green, and it tends to turn the broth just slightly bitter.

If you happen to have a Parmesan rind on hand, feel free to add it to the stock. It will disintegrate while cooking, and what doesn’t, you can pull out and trash it before serving the soup.

The meatballs are dropped in the broth raw. No, you don’t fry them, or bake them beforehand. There is no need for that extra step as they cook fully in the delicious broth. They turn out tender, moist, light and delicious. This recipe makes a lot, between 50 – 60 marble sized meatballs. You can freeze some uncooked, and prepare them at a future time, you can drop them in raw and still frozen in any broth.

This is a wonderful dinner prepared on a cold winter weekend. You can add some small-cut pasta, such as Acini di pepe, or just have some crusty bread on hand for dunking!  

Italian Wedding Soup with Turkey Meatballs

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

2 medium heads of escarole, trimmed, chopped and washed thoroughly

3 large carrots, diced/sliced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 small onion, diced

2 ripe tomatoes, quartered

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Salt & ground black pepper, to taste

1 large vegetarian or chicken bouillon cube (or 8 cups chicken broth)

1 Parmesan rind (Optional)

Instructions

1. Wash thoroughly the escarole and boil it in lightly salted water for 10 minutes. Drain it and set it aside. Meanwhile, prepare the broth.
2. In a large soup pan, (large enough to hold all the final components of the soup), add the carrots, celery, onion, tomatoes and parsley, and fill the pot ¾ of the way up with water (or stock). Season with salt and pepper, add in the bouillon cube and bring everything to a full boil. Add a parmesan rind, if you have one on hand. Meanwhile, prepare the meatballs.

Meatballs

3 – 4 slices high quality Italian bread (do not use anything too spongy, bread from a bakery works better than anything commercial)

16 – 20 oz ground turkey

2 eggs
1⁄2 – 3⁄4 cup bakery-style bread crumbs
1⁄2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for topping
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley
2 – 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon salt
Black pepper (optional) and ¼ cup Acini di pepe pastina (optional)

Instructions for the meatballs

1. Soak the bread slices in several cups of plain water. Soak for 5 minutes or so.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add all of the rest of the ingredients.
3. After the bread has soaked, drain the water, and using your hands, squeeze out asmuch of the water as possible. The bread should be moist, not wet, so squeeze tight to remove water. Using your hands or a knife, chop up the moistened bread and add it to the mixing bowl. (If the bread used has a thick crust, you can remove it.)
4. Using your hands, mix all the ingredients thoroughly. If the mixture is too soft add a few more tablespoons of breadcrumbs. If the mixture feels too hard or dry, break an additional egg, beat it lightly and add a few tablespoons of the beaten egg. (Mixture should feel moist and soft but not wet or dry.) Do not over mix or work the mixture too much.
5. Shape the small meatballs to about the size of a large marble. Set them aside.

To complete the soup:

1. Add the drained escarole to the soup pan, at the same time, add the meatballs and cook over medium heat for 15 – 18 minutes. If desired, add some tiny pastina such as acini di pepe or stelline. Serve hot with grated cheese, if desired and some garlic toast for dunking.

 

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