Italian wedding soup with stracciatella

Italian wedding soup with stracciatella. You want to talk about a one pot meal, this fits the bill perfectly! The soup has a lovely deep flavor due to the mirepoix and those little meatballs that just boil and steam in the broth. For added flavor, some pastina, and incredible strings of egg whisked with Parmigiano, salt and pepper, called "stracciatella".

Song of the day: "Am I Wrong" by Nico and Vinz. P.S. I love this song. Be prepared, this song will make you want to move!

Italian Wedding Soup, aka Minestra Maritata

Actually I remember having this soup very young. My aunt and mom would be rolling those little meatballs while the soup would be stewing. Ours had this wonderful egg strand we call stracciatella and this is the version I am sharing with you today. I did ask Nicoletta if she had ever heard of this soup but she said she never had it in Rome.

I did some research and it so happens that this dish comes from a Region called Campania, however, it is not a soup made for weddings, it is a soup that marries many flavors. It was actually called Minestra Maritata, go figure. What really matters, anyway, is that it is utterly scrumptious and so much fun to make. Hey, gather the family and come into our kitchen, we are making Italian wedding soup with stracciatella!

Here is your shopping list:

Most of these ingredients you would have in your kitchen, but you may have to go and do some shopping. Nicoletta and my favorite thing to do together. Here is what you will need:

The meatballs:

• Italian sausage meat, ground pork, and ground beef
• eggs
• Italian-style bread crumbs
• some stale bread soaked in milk
• Parmigiano Reggiano
• salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder
• fresh parsley

For the broth:

• vegetable broth
• mirepoix: carrots, onions, celery
• garlic
• bay leaves
• olive oil
• chili flakes
• salt and pepper

For the greens:

• Fresh organic baby spinach, or "scarola" (escarole), rapini, chard

The pasta:

• Pastina

The Stracciatella:

• eggs
• Parmigiano
• salt and pepper

The key to this soup is the meatballs!

Prep for the meatballs: I like to get the meatballs done before I do the broth. We need to blend all the ingredients for the meatballs.

One thing for the stale bread: put it in a ramekin and add the milk. Let that soak in, then squeeze the milk out, and place it in the bowl with all the other ingredients.

I like to get in there and give this mixture a little love with my hands, however if you don't want to get your hands dirty, use a spoon or fork. Once it is all blended cover with plastic wrap and put in fridge.While the meat is harmonizing time to build the broth!

Vegetable broth: even though I have the vegetable broth, I still like to sauté some carrots, celery, garlic, and onion. It really deepens the flavor of the broth and I love those bits of vegetables in the broth. So our next step goes like this:

1. Drizzle in olive oil in a large cast soup pot, toss in garlic, onion, carrots, celery. Turn heat to a medium setting and let that sauté for a few minutes. Toss in bay leaves and season with salt and pepper. Stir well.
2. Pour in the broth, give it another stir and cover. Lower the heat to a low to medium setting. Check on the broth occasionally, and stir. Taste for seasoning and add if necessary.

Time to form the meatballs for this Italian wedding soup with stracciatella!

This is where the fun begins and great to get the family involved:

1. Take meat mixture out of the fridge, give it a good mix.
2. With a teaspoon scoop some of the meat, place it in the palm of your hand and roll it into a nice little ball. Place that on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
3. Continue until all the meat mixture is finished.

Minestra Maritata (marry the ingredients), time to marry these meatballs with the broth!

Some may be thinking are we going to sauté or bake these meatballs. The answer is no. What makes this soup so distinct is the texture of the meatball. With that being said this is what we do:

1. Take the meatballs and slowly place them into the broth. What I figured out is this can be dangerous.
2. So then I get a sieve and load it with the meatballs and slowly submerge them into the broth. Once all the meatballs are in, give it a gentle stir.
3. What you are going to see happen is the meatballs are going to come to the surface, that means they are cooked.

The last stages of this amazing soup!

Only a few more things to do before we are finished:

1. We want to add our pastina at this time and also the chopped spinach. Give the soup a good stir, cover and let that simmer for about 10 minutes.
2. In a bowl place in the eggs, grated Parmigiano, salt and pepper. With a fork whisk it briskly.
3. Here's the trick to stracciatella: in a clockwise motion stir the soup. Slowly and delicately pour in the egg mixture and continue stirring until all the egg is in. Turn off heat, let sit a couple of minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve.

This is definitely a wedding soup!

They were right when they said this is an Italian wedding soup: the flavor is outstanding. It is truly a marriage of amazing flavors! The broth is light and has this lovely deep flavor that is an end result of the meatballs cooking the the broth. Let's talk about these meatballs. OMG, they are so moist, velvety, tender, and the flavor, exquisite! I can taste the Parmigiano, the flavors of the parsley and bread. It is like a taste explosion with each of these little amazing morsels.

I want to talk about the stracciatella. It adds such a rich texture to the mix. Imagine creamy scrambled eggs all bathed in that broth with back drops of chees and pepper, incredible. I think I am going to cry! Lol, just kidding, however it has touched me deeply. I am so happy you shared this moment with me. We love sharing these wonderful recipes, and hope it makes some beautiful memories for you too!

One last thing, the kids adore this soup. You can always see them smile when they see those little morsels of pure goodness. A bowl of this and you will feel fulfilled. A great sit down family meal that is healthy hearty and oh so delicious!

Enjoy!

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