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–+ servings

Italian Wedding Soup

If you don’t want to use the white center of the escarole, start with two heads and just use the dark green parts. The pale inner portion can be served in a salad or cooked in a number of ways. I like to divide up the work over two days, making the broth on the first day and the remainder on the second day. It’s perfectly feasible to do it all on the same day, however. I always keep a stash of rinds from Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino cheeses in the freezer. They add great flavor to broths, beans, and an array of other dishes.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 5 hours
Total Time 8 hours
Servings: 18 people
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Broth and Chicken
  • 1 x 4 1/2 pound whole chicken
  • 2 carrots chopped
  • 2 stalks celery chopped
  • 1 onion sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic chopped
  • 4-5 leaves sprigs parsley and tender stems only
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 whole clove optional
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 piece Parmesan cheese rind optional
  • 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 5 quarts water
Meatballs
  • 1 pound ground sirloin 90% lean
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano cheese freshly grated
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup parsley minced
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
  • 5 slices Italian bread 2-3 days old
Final assembly
  • 1 large head escarole
  • 1 pound acini de pepe or other very small dry pasta
  • salt to taste
  • black pepper freshly ground to taste
  • Parmigiano Reggiano cheese freshly grated for serving

Method
 

Broth and Chicken
  1. Cut the chicken into breast halves, legs, thighs, and wings. Cut the back into 2 or three pieces. Reserve the liver for another use but chop the remaining giblets.
  4. Slice the onions. There's really no need to peel them first.
  5. Same with the garlic, no need to peel. It all gets strained out in the end.
  6. Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered for two hours.
  7. After two hours, remove the breasts, legs, and thighs. Continue to simmer the broth.
  8. Remove the meat from the bones. Return the chicken bones and skin to the broth.
  9. Continue to simmer the broth for another two hours, adjusting seasoning as needed.
  10. Meanwhile, shred the breast meat and refrigerate.
  11. Reserve the leg and thigh meat for another use.
  12. After the broth has finished cooking, cool it for several hours. Strain and discard the solids. Allow the broth to come to room temperature and refrigerate.
  13. Alternatively, immediately strain and discard the solids and proceed as below.
Meatballs
  1. Put all the ingredients except the bread into a mixing bowl.
  2. Cut the crusts from the bread.
  4. Cover the bread with warm water for 3-4 minutes.
  5. Squeeze some of the water from the bread.
  6. Add the bread to the mixing bowl.
  7. Mix with your hands, until thoroughly combined and no streaks of white from the bread remain visible.
  8. As you are mixing add a bit of the bread soaking water from time to time (about a quarter cup or so total) to keep the mixture moist but not wet.
  9. The mixture should become tacky from the effects of the water and the mixing on the proteins in the meat. The tackiness will help the meatballs hold together for the same reason that sausage doesn’t fall apart when the casing is removed.
  10. With damp hands, roll the mixture into approximately 50 meatballs. Keeping your hands moist will enable you to create a smooth surface on the meatballs. If there are visible cracks, the meatballs will split when cooking.
Final assembly
  1. Skim the fat from the broth. Add water to make 6 quarts of broth. Bring the broth to a boil.
  2. Meanwhile, coarsely chop the escarole.
  5. As the broth comes to a boil, adjust the salt and pepper.
  6. Add the chopped escarole. Return to a boil and cook at a moderate boil for approximately 5 minutes.
  7. Add the meatballs. Return to a boil and boil gently, so the meatballs don’t break, for 10-12 minutes.
  8. Add the shredded white meat chicken and return to a gentle boil.
  9. Adjust salt and pepper. At this point, slightly over-salt the soup as the dry pasta will reduce the saltiness of the soup. The soup can be made ahead to this point. Return to a boil and add the pasta just before serving.
  10. Add the pasta and boil gently until pasta is cooked, approximately 10 minutes.
  11. Adjust salt and pepper.
  12. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Notes

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