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Italian Wedding Soup for your upcoming nuptials

by Kirk Pfeiffer

Published Thursday, 22-May-2008 in issue 1065

With this week’s ruling on same-sex marriage in mind, I felt it perfectly appropriate to share in the celebration with a recipe for Italian Wedding Soup. My partner Dan and I had our commitment ceremony Sept. 30, 2006 with 100 guests on a perfect Saturday afternoon. Though we’re already married, in our minds and spirits, we’ll be filling out the necessary paperwork – though we won’t be having another big ceremony. But, it sounds like many of you are going to have a party to plan! Even if you have been together for 10 or 15 years, get married and celebrate the new found freedom. You can E-vite me at gltrecipebox@gmail.com

The great thing about wedding soup is you can tweak it to fit your taste. For example, I am a big fan of kale, so I always add a bit to this soup. The trick, I have discovered, is to keep it simple. One friend uses frozen meatballs from Trader Joe’s or Ikea in his soup, which, for him, makes the soup quick and easy to make – and it actually gets him cooking! It is great the next day and can be frozen for short amounts of time.

Wedding soup consists of green vegetables (usually endive and escarole or cabbage, lettuce, kale and/or spinach) and meats (usually meatballs and/or sausage) in a clear chicken-based broth. Wedding soup sometimes contains pasta, noodles, cavatelli, lentils or shredded chicken.

If you have a suggestion or recipe you’d like to share, contact me at gltrecipebox@gmail.com

Kirk Pfeiffer is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist in private practice on University Avenue in Hillcrest. He can be reached at 619-339-9980 or through his Web site, www.uptownacupuncture.net.

Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs:

1 small onion, grated

1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 large egg

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

8 ounces ground beef

8 ounces ground pork

Freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

12 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (1 pound of escarole would be a good substitution)

2 large eggs

2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into one-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet.

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about eight minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about one minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.