I always though that the name came from being served at weddings but nope, Wiki disputes that: Origin. The term “wedding soup” comes from the Italian language phrase “minestra maritata” (“married soup“), which is a reference to the flavor produced by the combination/”marriage” of greens and the meat. The minestra maritata recipe is also prepared by the families of Lazio and Campania.
Either way, it’s awesome.
For the meat part, you’re going to want to make some mini meatballs:
I made the meatballs first but you can make it at any time.
I like ground chicken or turkey for these meatballs, I find it compliments the soup very nicely. Adding ground fennel give it the taste of Italian sausage but with the nice firm texture of chicken which works so well in the soup.
This isn’t a typical spongy, soft meatball, it’s more firm than your typical meatball. I prefer this because the texture really stands out in the soup. Otherwise the meatballs taste too gushy.
Mix all the ingredients by hand.
Normally making these tiny meatballs is a complete pain in the rear. That’s where this genius idea comes in. The Mini Meatball Maker. I gotta admit I got it out of the sick curiosity of “does this thing *really* work?” And I’m happy to say it does!
I just smeared the meat over the top with a standard bench scraper.
And cooked in the microwave over a round pan for about a minute and a half. And they pop out like nothing! They’re mostly cooked at this point.
Then for the soup.
Add water, spices, and stock cubes.
Add Kale and cook. You can see here that the kale was frozen. You can either chop your kale, or I like to freeze it and bash it up in a bag. That makes it very easy to break into small bits and doesn’t impact the texture of the kale. You can use spinach and I have before, but the kale has a nicer texture in the soup.
Add the beans and bring close to a boil. For the beans you can use either canned cannelini beans or I use dry cannelloni and cook in the Instant p
To cook the beans from dry: Add dried, rinsed beans to 4 cups of water with spices and stock cubes. Cook on high pressure for about 35 minutes and quick release. If using max pressure (I use the Instant Pot Max) you should only need about 25 minutes after using the quick soak method.
You meatballs and acini de pepe pasta.
Add the meatballs and celery and bring back up to a boil.
And the pasta, and bring back up to a boil. The pasta cooks very quickly, in about 2 minutes.
And serve with a nice piece of sourdough bread.
Italian Wedding Soup
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 2 pounds ground chicken or turkey
- ½ cup seasoned bread crumbs
- ¼ cup parmesan the shaker kind is fine for this application
- ½ teaspoon crushed dried red peppers
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder
- 2 teaspoons chicken bullion powder I use Knorr Caldo de Pollo
- 1 egg
For the soup
- 1 large bunch Kale chopped
- 1 cup carrots cubed
- ½ cup onion diced
- 1 cup celery diced
- 2 cups Cannellini beans dried beans cooked or canned beans
- 2 tablespoons chicken base I use I use Maggi or Minor’s
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon fennel powder
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 5 cloves garlic crushed
- 6-8 stock cubes
- 3 cups water
- ½ cup Acini de Pepe or other small pasta
Instructions
- Soak dried beans using the quick soak method: put beans in a bowl with water covering plus about 2 inches above beans. Microwave on high for about 10 minutes until well boiling. Allow to sit for 1 hour, drain, and rinse.
- Cook the beans:
- Add dried, rinsed beans to 4 cups of water with spices and stock cubes. Cook on high pressure for about 35 minutes and quick release. If using max pressure you should only need about 25 minutes after using the quick soak method.
- Meatballs
- Mix all ingredients for “Meatballs” and form small meatballs by hand or use the Mini Meaball Maker.
- Soup
- Sauté onions and carrots until they are translucent. Add water, spices and stock cubes and heat until cubes have melted and hot throughout. Add kale and cook until cooked through. If you have made the meatballs by hand, bring to a boil and drop the raw meatballs in to cook. If they’re small enough a minute or 2 should do it. Add the beans and heat through. If you’ve used the mini meatball maker, add them at this step. Add celery and heat for several minutes. Add the pasta and chicken base and cook for several minutes. At that point you should adjust the seasoning with either salt or chicken base to taste.
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