Recipe: Italian Wedding Soup

I made Italian Wedding Soup today.  I've never made it before.  I can't believe how much better this soup is when it is homemade!

It's pretty easy to do as well.  The most consuming part is making all those bite sized meatballs.  But those meatballs are also the best part of this recipe - they were melt in your mouth deliciousness!

I morphed several recipes and this is what I came up with:

Meatballs
1/4 lb pork stew meat - ground
1/4 lb beef stew meat - ground
1/4 lb veal stew meat - ground
1 slice whole wheat bread
1/2 C parmesan cheese - finely grated
4T  whole milk
4T bread crumbs (I used panko because that's all I had)
2 eggs
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3T basil, dry
2t oregano, dry
2t marjoram, dry
salt and pepper

Grind the stew meat.  At the end, add the bread slice to the grinder to push out the remainder of the meat out of the machine.  Add all other ingredients to the meat.  Mix well.  Roll into bite sized meat balls.

Here are the meatballs all lined up and ready for the pot.

Soup
8C chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2T basil, dry
meatballs from recipe above
100g acini de pepe pasta
6C spinach, rough chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Bring chicken broth (homemade is best) to a boil with bay leaf and basil.  Add raw meatballs to boiling water.  Bring to a boil and allow to cook until meatballs float (approx 3 minutes).  Add pasta, stir and boil until pasta is tender (approx 10 min). Add spinach and bring to a boil.  Season and serve.  Top individual bowls with shaved parmesan.

Buon appetito!