The Best Italian Wedding Soup

 You don’t have to be Italian to love this easy-to-make soup!  It will be a popular meal with everyone in your family served with hot crusty Italian bread or garlic bread for dunking.  Enjoy!

The Best Italian Wedding Soup

Mini meatballs made of ground beef, pork and veal combined with fresh vegetables to make this delicious Italian soup. Great comfort food for cold nights!

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• ½ Pound ground beef
• ½ Pound ground pork
• 1 small onion, minced
• ⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 egg
• 3 Cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• ⅓ cup panko bread crumbs
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Soup:

• 3 Tablespoons olive oil (good quality)
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup minced yellow onion
• 1.5 cups acini de pepe pasta
• 8 oz fresh baby spinach
• 12 Cups chicken stock
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, stir the minced onion, parsley, egg, garlic, salt and bread crumbs together. Add the Parmesan cheese, ground meat and pepper and combine, using your hands or a fork. Using about a heaping teaspoon portion, roll meatballs; this will yield about 40 meatballs. Set aside on a baking sheet. This can be done in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
2. In a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion, carrots and celery and saute until the onion is transparent, about 7 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and meatballs, return to a boil, and cook until the pasta is cooked al dente.
3. Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning to your liking with salt and pepper. Add the spinach and simmer for a couple of minutes more, until the spinach is just wilted but still a vibrant green.
4. Ladle into bowls and serve with a little extra grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.