Lightened Up Italian Wedding Soup

Here is a recipe I created for a lightened up version of Italian Wedding Soup. Traditional Italian Wedding Soup consists of chicken broth, hearty greens and tasty homemade meatballs. Instead of using the higher-fat meats traditionally used to make meatballs (pork, veal or beef), I used lean ground turkey breast and the results were excellent. This soup is hearty and satisfying and perfect for cold fall and winter nights. If you’d like, you can serve this soup with crusty Italian bread. A fun fact I learned about this soup is that its name “Italian Wedding Soup” is actually a mistranslation of the Italian language phrase minestra maritata, which means “married soup” and refers to the “marriage” of meat and greens and (sadly!)  has nothing to do with weddings.

Lightened Up Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients

Meatballs:
1 medium white or yellow onion, grated
1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
1 large egg
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated
1 pound ground turkey breast

Soup:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 carrots, diced
1 cup white or yellow onion, minced
12 cups chicken broth
1 pound curly endive, coarsely chopped (you can substitute spinach or escarole if you’d like)
Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated, for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
First, prepare the meatballs:
Stir the onion, parsley, egg, salt, pepper, panko breadcrumbs and grated cheese in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the ground turkey and gently combine. With a teaspoon, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch meatballs and place onto a baking sheet.

Next, make the soup:
Heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion and carrots, and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
Add the raw meatballs and curly endive and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8-10 minutes.

Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.
Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on each serving.

Tagged as: dinner, healthy, recipes, savory, soup, turkey