A chill in the air makes for good soup in the pot

The weather's getting a little chilly up here in New England, so it's time to break out a few of my favorite soup recipes by Giada de Laurentis. I don't typically make a lot of Giada's recipes, but there are some that, with a few of my own tweaks, have grown to be staples in my kitchen.

Giada’s Italian Wedding Soup is a recipe that serves as a solid starting point for my own. It’s relatively simple and doesn’t require you to bake the meatballs before adding them to the soup. One less pan to clean, yea!

In my version, I swapped beef for turkey, add parsley for additional flavor and breadcrumbs to help keep the meatballs together while poaching. I also prefer escarole in my soups, but any greenery will do.

Italian Wedding Soup
Adapted from Giada de Laurentis

For the Meatballs
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 onion minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped fine
1/3 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1/4 parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

For the Soup
10 cups low sodium chicken broth (or stock)
1 head of escarole, roughly chopped and rinsed well
Salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs, beaten

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the meatballs. Using a wooden spoon, gently mix ingredients until well-combined. Using teaspoons or gloved hands, make small, rounded meatballs about an inch in diameter, and set aside on a tray or cutting board.

In a large saucepan, bring broth to a simmer and add escarole. Return to a simmer and drop meatballs in one at a time, pushing gently to submerge. Simmer until meat is cooked through, about 8 minutes. When meat is cooked, season as needed with salt and pepper. Stir soup in a circular motion and slowly stream in beaten eggs. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes
I used my trusty cookie scoop to make the meatballs uniform in size. I finished them by rolling them between gloved hands and dropping them right into the simmering pot. Be gentle with the soup right after adding the meat or you’ll end up with lots of meatball pieces instead of little spheres. Not so pretty, but still yummy.

When it comes to streaming beaten egg into soup, I’m miserable (and its part of the reason why I haven’t included any pictures of the plated soup…it’s just ugly!). Ideally, you’re supposed to get the boiling broth moving in a circular motion and then add the egg in a thin stream so it cooks up all stringy (like the egg drop soup you get at the local Chinese joint). Mine just looked like obliterated egg particles floating in the soup. Hey, as long as it tastes good, right? Hopefully you’ll fare better.

Fabulous Feasting,
The Diva.