Things You'll Need:
- Everything on the grocery list
- A soup pot with a lid
- A strainer (wired preferred)
- A measuring cup
- 2 large heat-resistant bowls
- A knife
- A mixing spoon
- Tongs
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Step 1
So you want to make some Italian Wedding Soup?! Well, lets hit the grocery store... you will need the following: a whole chicken or chicken pieces (your choice), chicken bouillon cubes, 1-lb bag of baby carrots, 3 ribs of celery, 1 small yellow onion, 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, 2 to 3-lbs. of ground beef, chicken, turkey, pork, etc. (the choice here is really yours), Italian seasoned bread crumbs, 1/4 of a cup of grated parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, crushed red pepper flakes, a head of escarole (can be substituted with a box of frozen spinach if your local store doesn't carry escarole), & a can of corn kernels (optional).
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Step 2
Now that you went shopping & got everything you need, lets roll up our sleeves & get to work! Take your large soup pot out & place it on your stove top. Then, pick up that chicken you just brought & give it a nice rinse! After you have washed the chicken thoroughly, place it in your soup pot! Now take out your measuring cup. You are going to add a quart of water for every pound of chicken! So if your chicken weighs 4 1/2 lbs. (you can check the label to find out how much your chicken weighs), you will add 4 1/2 quarts of water to the pot, or 18 cups! Then cover your pot & turn the heat on high! Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat & allow the chicken to simmer for a hour.
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Step 3
In the meantime, you can get some other preparatory work done! Take those 3 ribs of celery & dice them up! Also dice up that small yellow onion! You can take the both of those & set them aside for now! Move on to mincing your garlic, that you are going to need for the next step. Don't feel like mincing garlic? Grab a jar of minced garlic in oil at your supermarket instead!
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Step 4
Let us prepare the meat while we are still waiting on our simmering chicken! In your large bowl, combine the following: your ground meat, minced garlic, eggs, crushed red pepper flakes, & parmesan cheese. Then, add in enough bread crumbs so that meat mixture is no longer moist enough to fall apart when rolled into a ball. You are now going to set this mixture aside & let it rest!
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Step 5
By now, your hour should be up & your chicken should be done, leaving behind a nice broth! Using some tongs, remove your chicken from the pot & place in to a large bowl. The chicken needs to cool before we can peel & de-bone it. In the meantime, we are going to start putting the other pieces of this soup together.
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Step 6
Strain the broth, just to remove any stray bones or unwanted pieces of skin that may be in there! Then, toss in the bag of baby carrots, the diced celery & onion, & 4 chicken bouillon cubes! Add 4 cups of water. Bring this all to a boil & then reduce heat & simmer for 30 minutes!
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Step 7
For the next 30 minutes, you are going to roll that meat you set aside earlier in to bite-sized meatballs! After the 30 minutes is up, turn the heat back up to high & start tossing in those meatballs a few at a time. Your adding them a few at a time to prevent them from sticking together! It may take several stirs of the soup to get them all in there, but the will all fit! Once all of the meatballs are in, cover the soup once more & allow to cook on high for 15 minutes.
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Step 8
In the meantime, it is time to clean that chicken that has been cooling! Remove the skin & bones from the meat, we only want the meat in this soup! Being that this is likely to take the whole 15 minutes, once you are done cleaning the chicken off, you can dump all of the chicken meat directly in to the soup! Reduce the heat down & allow the chicken to warm back up! If you are using frozen spinach in place of escarole, do NOT reduce the heat & dump the package of spinach in to the soup at this point! Allow the soup to boil again before continuing!
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Step 9
Now it is time to clean the escarole! Careful here, escarole is often the dirtiest in its inner layers! I recommend cutting the bottom off, then cutting in to sections, & rinsing each section off in the strainer. This works well as, when you are done rinsing, you can add the cleaned section in to the pot in a bunch (you are going to have to add it in to the pot in bunches anyway, so this just makes sense). You can also use your spoon to push the escarole down in to the pot so that it can cook & make room for more bunches to be added.
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Step 10
Escarole cooks fairly quickly, so it will only take about 5 minutes to finish! Once the escarole is done you can add the can of corn, just strain it first! Now corn is not traditional, I just like its added flavor & color! Allow the corn to heat & then your soup is done & ready to serve!
I recommend serving the soup over orzo pasta & sprinkled with parmesan cheese!
