Boneless Chicken Recipe
Italian Wedding Soup
Photo Description:
This photo of Italian wedding soup shows that it is a clear soup containing meatballs and green vegetables. The soup in the photo contains chickpeas but you can leave those out if you want and use whichever pulses and vegetables you want to. Wedding soup is best served hot and it is great with some warm bread and butter on the side. If you are having a dinner party, you might want to consider making this Italian wedding soup recipe as the appetizer. It is also tasty as a lunchtime snack or a warming supper, served with bread, crackers or simply alone.
Some Italian Wedding Soup Facts
Italian wedding soup is an Italian American recipe containing meat and green vegetables. Wedding soup is actually a mistranslation of "minestra maritata" which means green vegetables and meat. The second word was believed to refer to a marriage, which is why the soup was misnamed. The name did stick though, since the dish is still known as Italian wedding soup. Actually, the "marriage" part referred to how well meat went with green vegetables but that part was lost somewhere in translation! Wedding soup has been popular in parts of Spain for a long time but the traditional Spanish recipe contained much more meat.
This Italian wedding soup recipe contains chicken broth, pasta and carrot, celery, onion and spinach for flavor and texture. It contains meatballs as well as chicken. Some Italian wedding soup recipes contain sausage, noodles, pasta, lentils, cavatelli, escarole, kale, endive, or spinach. Each family has a slightly different way to make this and you can add any meats or vegetable you want to use up, especially vegetables past their prime. Pulses and pasta makes this soup more satisfying too. This hearty recipe for Italian wedding soup makes a delicious appetizer or can be served in larger portions for a whole meal. It is nice served with warm, crusty bread and salted butter.
Unlike many recipes for creamy soups, this recipe for Italian wedding soup contains very few calories and barely any fat at all, especially if you use extra lean ground beef to make it. If you want to make healthy chicken soup recipes, this Italian wedding soup recipe is ideal.
Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Ingredients -
1 lb chopped chicken breast, no skin or bones
2 chopped ribs celery
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 chopped onions
48 fl oz can chicken broth
1 egg
3 oz dry pasta
2 cups chopped carrot
10 oz frozen spinach - thawed, drained and chopped
1 lb ground beef
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Preparation:
Put the broth, onions, spinach, celery and carrots in a soup pot over a medium heat and stir well.
Let the mixture simmer while you make the meatballs.
Combine the breadcrumbs, ground beef and egg in a bowl and mix well.
Shape the mixture into ½ inch diameter meatballs and drop them into the soup carefully.
Add the chicken breast chunks to the soup and turn the heat down to low.
Let it simmer for an hour.
Add the pasta half an hour before you serve the soup.
Season with salt and black pepper and serve hot.
(Serves 6)