Geerthana Uthayakumar Last week I posted an update on my cooking adventures with my daughter (click here to read it) and a lovely lady contacted me asking for the recipe of the Italian Wedding Inspired Soup that was included in that post. The Italian wedding soup is a nice change from the usual chicken noodle soup and is definitely a lot more filling and probably more nutritious since it incorporates some greens. I used homemade chicken broth and homemade meatballs of course, but you can opt to use store-bought organic low-sodium chicken broth if you are short on time.
Italian Wedding Inspired Soup RECIPE
Ingredients:
- 4 cups of homemade chicken broth
- 10 homemade meatballs, halved
- 1 carrot, sliced
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped
- half a red pepper, diced
- quarter of an onion, diced
- 1 cup orzo pasta, cooked according to package directions to “al dente”
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- half tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 8 basil leaves, chopped
- quarter of a lemon, juiced
- salt and pepper to taste
- freshly grated parmesan cheese for sprinkling
Instructions:
- In a stock pot, heat the olive oil. Add the carrots, onions, red pepper, garlic, and red pepper flakes if using. Sautee the ingredients until onion turns soft and golden.
- Add the chicken broth and bring the contents of the pot to a boil. Turn down the heat and let the contents simmer until the carrots are soft.
- Add the pasta, meatballs, and spinach leaves. Cook until the spinach leaves are wilted and then turn off the heat.
- Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and basil leaves. Give the soup a quick stir.
- Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese before serving.
