Italian Wedding Soup

No, Italians don't eat this soup at weddings. Also known as "minestra maritata ", or "married soup", this soup is thus named because of the wonderful way that heavy meats blend and "marry" with greens and tomatoes. This soup is my brag soup. I've tweaked it and combined different varieties of minestra maritata that I've tried to make what I make, and I love it.

The challenges I faced with this pot included:

PORTION CONTROL. I've said it a hundred times. I can cook for 50 with ease but I struggle with feeding five. I ordinarily make this soup in a giant stockpot - the kind that old Mexican ladies steam tamales in and that witches can boil small children in. Its a huge, huge pot and my wonderful soup is frequently wasted or pawned off on friends and extended family in tupperwares because there is simply too much soup.

DIFFERENT INGREDIENTS. I make this soup in the heat of the summer with the freshest ingredients. Fresh homemade stock, perfect homegrown tomatoes, fresh corn scraped off of the cob, onions that still have dirt on them, and fresh, beautiful, tender greens that wilt into tasty oblivion in the soup. Alas, the bug hit me to make my wedding soup in early March, when the fresh tomatoes are orange-yellow at best, the corn is a little moldy and $1.50 an ear, the onions are tough and large from being stored, and the greens are frozen. I know some people scoff at the idea of not using the freshest, most in-season veggies. I must admit - this version of my soup is not for you, but its tasty and when handled well, less desireable vegetation can be delicious.

In a few months, I'll make this soup again. No, I won't consider it a repeat that goes against my challenge of unique pots of soup. Why? Using fresh ingredients will change the soup dramatically and requires different prep. Simple enough.

What You'll Need
1.5 pounds ground beef
two 24 ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes
one 16 ounce bag frozen sweet corn
one package frozen spinach, chopped
one half medium onion OR
three green grilling onions
6 oz package of orzo or small pasta
one egg
1/3 cup bread crumbs
garlic paste
garlic powder
white pepper
paprika
Italian seasoning mix (oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary)
salt
butter or extra virgin olive oil


I prefer 85% lean/15% fat meat for this soup, but you can go as far as 90% lean. Any leaner, and the meatballs will lack flavor and won't stick together as well.

Buy the best canned tomatoes you can afford. The one can of brand-name organic tomatoes I had was of much, much greater quality than the can of local-store generic.

By "grilling onions", I mean small, inch-wide onions with green stalks. Here in Texas, we grill them with BBQ. Do you call them something different..?

The orzo/small pasta may be substituted for cooked barley or rice. Its especially tasty with barley.

The How-To

Begin with your meat. Sprinkle with salt and spices to taste. 1/4 teaspoon of each will do if you like plain meatballs; I usually add much more. At least a teaspoon of each.

Garlic paste is my favorite thing in the world. I buy it at a local arabic grocery. Its quite cheap, lasts forever in the fridge (if you don't eat it right away..) and its very convenient. I still love fresh garlic and use it to my heart's content, but garlic paste has earned a special place in my kitchen. I added about one tablespoon to my meatball mix.


The mix before mixing: the egg is nestled in the meat, with 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, at least a teaspoon of white pepper (hold your nose and prepare to sneeze..), a half teaspoon of paprika and the other spices.

Mash thuroughly. Consider adding another egg if your mix is dry or if you use leaner meat.



Prepare your pot: add a splash of oil or enough butter to coat the bottom and throw in halved green onions (or diced regular onion). Some minced fresh garlic or a bit of garlic paste also go nicely.


Form the meat into small, 3/4-inch-wide balls and brown. Its just occured to me that I could bake the meatballs instead..so feel free to try that as well (be sure to deglaze and retrieve the juices for the soup!).

Pardon the steam clouding the image! When the meat is good and brown, use a half shotglass of water to deglaze the bottom of the pot. Better yet..use liquor!

Just cover the meatballs with beef stock. You do not need very much stock yet.

Add one can of tomatoes. Mash the whole tomatoes before dropping them in (and watch out for squirts of tomato juice! They're like balloons!). Increase the heat to medium-high, and let the small amount of stock, meatballs, and tomatoes simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors "marry".

When the meatballs and first tomatoes are finished "marrying", lower the heat, add the second can of tomatoes, and the package of defrosted spinach. I split the two cans into separate cook times, as I do with fresh tomatoes in this recipe - the first can of tomatoes "marries" into the soup and kind of disintegrates during cooking, but the second can of tomatoes remains fleshy and juicy to be eaten as a chunky vegetable in the soup.


Add more stock - approximately the same amount you added to the meatballs. Note the chunks of tomatoes, just added to the mix, and the reddish color of the broth because of the first tomatoes added. Add more paprika to taste - I like this soup to be spicy and add at least a tablespoon of the stuff at this step.


Finally..add the corn! Bring the soup to a simmer once again, and add the orzo or pasta. The orzo will cook within 5 minutes (it is very small). Remove from heat immediately - you do not want the orzo to turn to mush!

If you have it handy, add a few handfuls of fresh spinach before serving. When reheating leftovers, do not allow the pot to boil. Preferably, reheat only what you plan to eat, since multiple reheats will make the pasta or grain turn mushy.

Enjoy!