Italian Wedding Soup

The name Italian Wedding Soup is a reference to the marriage of greens and meat in the soup. A favorite in our house and it is truly bliss in a bowl.

Ingredients

for the meatballs:
½ pound ground chicken, turkey, pork or Italian sausage
¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tablespoons onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons Panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 egg, beaten
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

for the soup:
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled, diced
¾ cup orzo pasta or other small pasta
1 medium zucchini, diced
2 cups kale, chopped
8 cups reduced-sodium organic chicken or vegetable broth
½ cup fresh basil, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black
pepper to taste
parmesan cheese, for garnish

Directions

make the meatballs:
Make the meatballs by mixing their ingredients together except the olive oil. Shape mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Heat the 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a heavy soup pot. Brown the meatballs, remove and set aside. Pour off any extra fat in the pan.

make the soup:
In the same pan, heat 2 teaspoons olive oil. Add the onion and carrot and cook until softened, scraping up any browned bits off the bottom of the pan when stirring. Stir in the pasta and cook for 1 minute. Stir in zucchini and kale. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, stir in the meatballs and basil simmer gently for 10 minutes. Adjust the consistency of the soup to your preference by adding water or more broth. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Divide the warm soup among bowls and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

serves 4

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