(Zuppa di Scarola)

This soup is delicious and it brings back a very funny and great memory for me every time I think about it. I couldn’t find Marie’s recipe for Italian Wedding Soup, and I remembered some but not all of the ingredients and amounts, so I decided to copy one from Giada de Laurentis of the Food Network® and modify it a fair amount to recreate the wonderful soup Marie made for many of us back in the 1980’s. I make it a few times every year and it is fabulous!

The funny and great memory that I associate with this soup begins after lunch of the day I first tasted it as a first course at dinner with Marie’s family and friends at a great Wilmington, DE restaurant named for the owner, Vincente’s. Marie and I had been dating for about a month and we were in my office after lunch. We kissed and I told her that I loved her. Her reply? "I love you too, Ray, but I won’t just live with you. If we are going to be together then we will be married." My reply? "I understand."

So, here we are at dinner that evening at the fine Italian restaurant with family and friends, nothing else having been said about matrimony, and there I am eating my first bowl ever of Italian Wedding Soup. As I raised the spoon to my mouth and began sipping the broth Marie leaned over to me and whispered in my ear … "Is it alright if I tell some of the people here that we are getting married?" I damn near choked on my soup … and my brain went into overdrive, for I had to reply in an acceptable manner or risk real trouble. You see, I had not proposed to Marie … I had simply said, "I understand." She took my statement to mean that I had just agreed to marriage, i.e., that I had just proposed to her.

Well, I had to temporize to pull my thoughts together, so I said, "Let’s wait for a few days before we say anything." She agreed, but with some disappointment, for she was excited. Whew! You might say I was kind of excited too, but for a different reason! In any event, I loved Marie and I would have proposed anytime, anywhere to her, but that event really caught me by surprise. How appropriate for me to be eating Italian Wedding Soup!

In later years I would tease Marie now and then telling her that she proposed to me … and she would smile and rub her eye with the fickle finger of fate as her reply! What a hoot!

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

• 1/2 cup of diced onion
• 1/3 cup of chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1 extra large or jumbo egg
• 3 large cloves of fresh garlic, diced
• 1 1/2 tsp. of dried Oregano
• 1 1/2 tsp. of dried Basil
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1/3 cup of regular or gluten free bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese
• 12 ounces of 90% lean ground beef
• 12 ounces of 90% lean ground pork (you may have to make this yourself using pork loin as supermarkets typically put in too much fat)
• 1 tsp. of freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes
• 3 tbsp. of Extra Virgin Olive oil (or use parchment paper instead of olive oil)

Soup:

• 3 quarts of chicken broth plus one quart in reserve to adjust liquids to solids ratio near the end of making the soup, as needed
• 12 oz. of pre-cooked (boiled) boneless chicken breast or one and one half pounds of drumsticks or thighs pre-cooked (I recommend using drumsticks and thighs instead of chicken breasts for better flavor and more tender texture)
• 2 tbsp. of Better Than Buillion® Roast Chicken flavor
• 1½ lbs. (or more) of fresh bunches of escarole, base cut off and leaves separated and washed in cold water and drained in a colander, then chopped in half or thirds crosswise
• 2 extra large or jumbo eggs
• 1/3 cup of uncooked Acini di Pepe, or if needed, other small pieces of gluten free pasta
• 1/4 tsp. of Red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp. of fresh lemon juice
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese, plus extra for garnish at serving time
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste at serving time

Directions:

Precook the chicken in lightly boiling water for 20 to 30 minutes, then separate (cut away) the flesh from any skin, bones, veins and gristle and discard those latter items. Also rinse off any white scum on the surface of the chicken breasts.

Cut the chicken on a wood cutting board into random shaped pieces roughly 1/4 of a cubic inch each (1" x 1" x 1/4"), and set them aside.

To make the meatballs:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix the first 8 ingredients in an electric mixer bowl on low to medium low speed to blend for three minutes.

Gradually add in the cheese, beef and pork, the black pepper and the red pepper flakes and continue mixing on medium speed for three minutes.

Process the mixture through your meat grinder with the 1/8" die holes. That will give you a perfect texture and uniform mixture for making perfect meatballs.

Using 2 to 3 teaspoons of the ground mixture for each meatball, shape the meat mixture into meatballs about 5/8" to 3/4" in diameter. Temporarily place them on a sheet of plastic wrap as you make them.

Oil a raised sides 11" x 17" baking sheet lightly with the olive oil and put the meatballs on top evenly spaced.

Alternatively, skip the olive oil and instead line the baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.

Bake the meatballs for ten minutes, then roll or turn them over and bake for ten more minutes.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it and the meatballs aside.

To make the soup:

Bring the chicken broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

Add the Better Than Bullion® flavoring and stir.

Add the Acini di Pepe and stir.

Add the meatballs and the escarole, then lightly stir and simmer the mixture until the escarole is tender, about 8 minutes.

Add the chicken pieces and stir the soup.

As needed (your choice) add up to one quart of the reserved container of chicken broth to the soup.

Add the lemon juice and stir the soup.

Whisk the eggs and the freshly grated cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Start stirring the soup slowly in a circular motion.

Gradually drizzle the egg and cheese mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently, and cook for two minutes.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve it along with some crackers or with warmed Italian bread and butter.

Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Finish seasoning the soup with the additional freshly grated cheese garnish if desired.

Enjoy! Yes, you are guaranteed to truly enjoy this Italian Wedding Soup with it's complex flavors and multiple unique ingredients.