Italian Wedding Soup

I love food. I love cooking food, growing food, sharing food, and eating food. I am loving how much my life revolves around food here in Pittsburgh.

For my Food Systems class I am in, a different student is responsible to bring in a food that is meaningful to them each week. I had a hard time trying to decide what food I wanted to share with my new friends that would represent me. I knew I wanted it to be something that would be appropriate to the time of year and have family ties to it. Since everyone in my class came from all over, I thought maybe I would do something to represent Wisconsin (beer, brats and cheese?... Wisconsin boiled dinner?) or Minnesota (wild rice?...hotdish?). I thought maybe I would do something to represent my cultural heritage (German, Irish, Italian, and Bohemian). I toyed with the idea of making cracker dumplings, kolaches, biscotti, plum biscuits... There were so many wonderful foods I grew up eating, but as soon as I thought of Italian Wedding Soup, I knew that was it.

I grew up eating Italian Wedding Soup at the holidays with my family in Pennsylvania. Both my grandmother and my aunt would cook the soup. This soup was always such a treat, my sisters and I loved the little marble sized meatballs in the soup. Italian Wedding Soup does not have any connection to weddings, and in fact gets it's name from a mistranslation from Italian. The soup's name in Italian is"minestra maritata" or "married soup". The name references the perfect blending of flavors, between the broth, greens and meat.  This soup's origin is regional to Western Pennsylvania/Eastern Ohio.

I knew this soup was perfect to bring because it represents my connection to Pennsylvania, is a delicious, hearty soup perfect for the turning weather, and would be a great dish to make enough to share.

I got the recipe from my Aunt Mary, adjusted accordingly to what I had and the slight instincts I had about the soup. I didn't use any grain, though you could add pasta. I used a combination of endive and spinach. It turned out quite good, though I think my proportions are a bit off. It was a hit in class, which was great! A couple people tried wedding soup for the first time! This was the first time I have attempted making the soup by myself. Thanks to Aunt Mary for her recipe and guidance!

The recipe I am providing here is in the amount that I made to share with my class, so it is quite a large pot of soup. That being said, it freezes really well, so you could make a bit pot of the soup, eat some, share some and freeze some!

Italian Wedding Soup:
Broth and Greens: 
96 oz chicken broth
8 cups water
5 stalks of celery, finely chopped
4 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 large head of endive, finely chopped
3 large handfuls of spinach (3/4 of a bag), chopped

 Meatballs:
1 1/2 lbs beef
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
black pepper

Egg Mixture:
6 eggs
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Assembly:
Mix ground beef with 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper. Roll into marble size balls and set aside.
Add stock and water to large pot with carrot, celery and onion. Cook until vegetables are tender.
Add meatballs to hot stock.
Add endive and spinach to hot stock. Cook till tender.
Beat 6 eggs with fork until smooth and thin. Add 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and mix well.
When all vegetable are tender and stock has the flavor you want bring to a furious boil and stream egg mixture slowly while stirring with large slotted spoon.

Remove from boil at this point. Soup is ready!

I apologize for my terrible pictures. I just borrowed books on food styling from the library, which I am really excited about! Also, a friend has agreed to give me photography lessons over the holidays, so I am really looking forward to learning some tricks! :)

Mangia!