Lidia’s Italian Wedding Soup recipe was one of the most visited recipes this year but I realized I had never brought it over into the blog. The old site is not very mobile friendly and doesn’t print as nicely so I thought I’d bring it over here and remind everyone how good this soup is!
This is slightly adapted from Lidia’s Italy in America. I am amazed how flavorful the broth is since you start with water instead of broth, as I’ve done before. I used half kale and half spinach but you can use escarole, too, or any combination.
Lidia’s Italian Wedding Soup
This soup starts with water rather than broth but cooking the meatballs and greens provides all the flavor you need.
Ingredients
- 1/2 an onion, chopped into large pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped into large pieces
- 1 stalk celery, chopped into large pieces
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped into large pieces
- 2 Tbsp. dried basil or 5 fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes pepperoncino
- 1 Tbs salt, divided
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 quarts cold water
- 1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and then cut into 1/2” chunks
- 2-3 cups kale, cut in slices
- 2-3 cups spinach, cut in slices
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1 eggs, beaten
- 1 Tbsp. dried parsley or 2 Tbs fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
- Put the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, basil, pepperoncino and 2 tsp. salt in a food processor and pulse until fine.
- In a large skillet or soup pan, heat the olive oil until hot and then add the minced vegetables. Cook, stirring, about ten minutes.
- Add the water and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.
- Add the zucchini, 1 tsp. salt and cover again, the simmer for 20 more minutes.
- Add kale (or escarole) and spinach (or all escarole or kale or spinach). Uncover and simmer until the liquid has reduced by 1/3, about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring periodically.
- In the meantime, make the meatballs by combining the ground meats, bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, egg and salt in a large bowl. Mix with your hands until well combined the form into 1” (golf ball size) balls. You can make them smaller if you’d like. It just takes more time and I get impatient!
- After the greens have cooked and the liquid has reduced, add the raw meatballs and cook another 20 minutes, until cooked through.
- Serve with more grated cheese.
Arugula sounds good–as does dandelion greens! I’ll have to try the couscous one day, too.
I learned how to cook this from my Italian Nana who came from Florence. She used arugula & Spinach . And the large Israeli couscous in her wedding soup. Back in the day, before arugula was in stores, we would go out in the spring and forage for it. Sometimes also put in some early dandelion leaves. Nana called it her spring tonic! Instead of carrots, sometimes we used parsnips.
I’ve never ordered it in restaurants but the versions I’ve made from various recipes have never had pasta in it. I’m sure it would be quite good if you added some.
Where is the pasta? Isn’t that traditional in Wedding Soup? It’s been an ingredient in every Italian Wedding Soup I’ve ever ordered.