Recipe: Italian Wedding Soup

Yesterday as the temperature was dropping through the teens on its way to zero, I was channeling my inner over-achieving homemaker.  She tends to gravitate toward somewhat fussy but very tasty meals; hence the yard-long list of ingredients.  It's a pretty basic concept though:  meatballs, chicken, pasta, and vegetables in chicken stock.  No fancy seasonings.  The meatballs and the nod to stracciatella are a riff on Giada de Laurentiis' recipe over on the Food Network site.

Fair warning:  this makes an awful lot of soup. 

Italian Wedding Soup

8 oz ground beef

8 oz ground pork
1 small onion, grated (about ¼ cup)
1 bunch flat parsley, chopped, divided
3 large eggs
6 cloves garlic, crushed, divided
Salt & pepper
½ cup + 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan (from a jar is fine), divided
About ½ cup bread crumbs (fresh if you have them, dried if you don’t)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled & sliced
12 cups chicken stock
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon dried thyme
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 oz. tubettini pasta, cooked, drained, and rinsed with cold water
1 10-oz package cut leaf spinach, thawed & squeezed dry
1 ½ - 2 cups cooked chicken, diced
Freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish
 
For the meatballs: 

Combine the beef, pork, grated onion, ¼ cup of the chopped parsley, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, a few turns of black pepper, and ½ cup grated Parmesan.  Mix well.  Add enough bread crumbs so the mixture holds together but is still fairly moist.  Not wet, just moist.  Pinch off 1 teaspoon at a time and roll into small meatballs.  Spread the meatballs out on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and chill. 

(I mean chill the meatballs.  Though after shaping one pound of meat one teaspoon at a time, you may need to chill as well.  Totally up to you.)

For the soup: 

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and add the onion, celery, carrots and remaining garlic.  Sautee until the onion is tender. 

Combine the vegetables with the chicken stock, bay leaves, thyme, and pepper flakes in a large stock pot.  Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to a low, cover and simmer until the kitchen smells really good.

Uncover and return the soup to a boil.  Stir in the chicken, spinach and meatballs.  When the meatballs are cooked through (five or six minutes), beat the remaining 2 eggs with remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese.  Drizzle the egg mixture into boiling soup, stirring gently to create ribbons.  Add cooked tubettini and heat through.

Remove the bay leaves, correct seasonings and serve garnished with chopped parsley and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.