Italian Wedding Soup

Italian: Le ragazze spiritose — sono sempre ottime spose.
English: (Literally) A funny woman is always the ultimate spouse. (Meaning) A woman who has a good sense of humor makes for the perfect partner.

Italian Wedding Soup

Treasures from the freezer this past weekend, veal, pork and beef the beginnings of a yummy bowl of traditional Italian soup. I ground the beef and veal and added a pound of my seasoned homemade Italian sausage for the umpteen little meatballs that I made and brought out the last containers of chicken broth to gently simmer them in, but one can certainly use canned or boxed chicken broth or the condensed chicken stock as I did to bring my total cups of broth to about 14 cups.

I really did not measure the meatball ingredients, but nothing but the usual additions that one would expect bread crumbs, eggs, parsley, garlic, onion, oregano, pepper and grated cheese. My sausage is well seasoned and adds a lot of flavor to the meatballs.

Contrary to many recipes, I partially roasted the meatballs in the oven before adding them to hot broth and finished cooking on a low simmer temperature for at least 30 minutes. Escarole (chopped) was added for the last 10 minutes then I slowly stirred in (with a fork) a blend of two eggs and 3 heaping tablespoons or parmesan and pecorino cheeses creating little strands floating through the broth…serve more cheese at the table and pinches of red pepper flakes. Good dunking bread is a must.

Alternatively used really good store-bought meatballs and change the greens if you like.