Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients: Chicken Stock

• one or two chicken carcasses

• a few carrots, stalks of celery, and an onion halved

• one bay leaf

Ingredients: Veggie Stock

• scrap vegetables such as leek, turnip, or swede

• a few dried porcini mushrooms

• a few carrots, stalks of celery, and an onion halved

• one bay leaf

Stock

Method

Place all the ingredients in a stock pot and cover them with water. Bring to a boil, straining any white scum that might rise to the top. Lower to a simmer. Gently cook the chicken stock for four hours, or if you’re making the veggie stock, cook for one hour.

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 carrots diced

• 3 or 4 stalks of celery diced

• 1 onion diced

• 200g escarole, chard, kale, or spinach chopped

• 1.5l chicken stock

• 150g orzo, pearl couscous or other small pasta

• about 50 small meatballs

• 2 whisked eggs

• lemon juice, chopped flat parsley, and grated parmesan cheese for serving

Italian Wedding Soup

Method

In a large pot, bring the stock to a boil, add the greens, and when it comes to a simmer, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot with a lid. Kale takes about twenty minutes, but if you choose another green, it will likely take less time. After ten minutes, add the carrots, celery, and onion, cooking for an additional ten minutes until they’re tender.

In a separate pot, bring some salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook it for one minute less than the instructions on the packet. Drain the pasta and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.

Remove the vegetables from the stock and set aside. Slowly pour the egg into the stock. It will cook immediately. Add the vegetables back to the stock along with the meatballs and pasta. Allow the ingredients to marry for a few minutes, then squeeze in some lemon juice to taste. Serve with grated parmesan and chopped parsley.

If you don’t think you’ll be eating all the soup at once, you can set aside the pasta and add a small amount to each serving when it’s in the bowl. Pasta tends to overcook if it’s reheated in the stock. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 500g minced beef

• 100g breadcrumbs

• 20g parmesan cheese grated

• 3 cloves of garlic minced

• 15g flat leaf parsley chopped

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1 egg

Meatballs

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Form the mixture into tiny meatballs. Each one should be the size of a large gumball. They weigh somewhere between 10 and 15 grams; you should end up with about 50. Fry the meatballs (for approximately 5 minutes) in a bit of oil and drain them in a colander or sieve. You’ll want to cook these meatballs through since they won’t be cooking for long in the soup.

Ingredients

• 150ml olive oil

• 1 clove of garlic sliced as thin as you can get it

• 5tbs crushed chili flakes

• 1/2tsp salt

Garlic & Chilli Oil

Method

Heat the oil in a small saucepan until it’s shimmering. Be careful not to let the oil smoke. It will impart a burnt, bitter flavor. Add garlic, salt, and chili flakes in a separate heat-proof bowl. When the oil is ready, pour over the chili mixture. There should be a sizzling sound for a few seconds. You can give it a little stir, and it’s ready! Keep this in the fridge for pasta, eggs, or anything else that needs a little kick.