Italian Wedding Soup from @MaddieDayAuthor

MADDIE DAY here with a yummy soup for a cold day. Valentine's Day is coming up soon and, whether you are married or not, who wouldn't want to celebrate a wedding with a meatball soup?

Just kidding. 

Because I had no idea why this is called wedding soup, I looked it up. I found a site called NonnaBox, which provided this explanation:

"Its original name in Italian is minestra maritata and it was translated to “wedding soup”, when in fact, a more appropriate translation would be “married soup”—as in green vegetables (minestra) blend very well (maritata) with meat. The marriage isn’t a marriage between two people, but between vegetables and meat."

(And it looks like Nonna checked with Snopes, so we can trust her explanation...)

Whatever. I agree that meat and vegetables marry very well, and I personally have no wedding plans on the horizon. 

But a cold snowy night was forecast recently, and I realized I had meatballs, chopped spinach, and chicken stock in the freezer. I always have wine, canned beans, carrots, celery, onions, and garlic at hand, and I could improvise the rest. 

And you can too. No beans? No problem. Turkey or salmon balls instead of beef? Go for it! No pasta except spaghetti or macaroni? Throw it in. The hot pepper is totally optional, as is the wine (I truly didn't taste the addition and would rather have sipped it from the glass).

This turned out so yummy, don't be surprised if Robbie offers it as a lunch special in next year's book, SCONE COLD DEAD (shhh - you heard that title here first!). 

Italian Wedding Soup 

Ingredients

I forgot the rosemary and oregano in this photo

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 large carrots, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups chicken broth, homemade or commercial

2 cups water

1 habanero pepper (keep whole)* or a few drops of hot sauce (optional)

2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup small pasta such as orzo

1 can small pink or white beans, rinsed

4 oz fresh spinach, stems trimmed and roughly or one package frozen

½ cup white wine

2 tablespoons basil pesto

Twenty small meatballs, uncooked

Parmigiano Reggiano, for serving

 

*The whole pepper is optional, but it adds nice flavor in the background while not increasing spiciness. Just make sure you don’t chop or squeeze it.

Directions

Heat olive oil on medium heat in a heavy soup pot or Dutch oven. Saute onions until they begin to soften. Add carrots and celery and continue cooking until all are soft. Add garlic and saute one more minute.

Add chicken broth and water. 

Enclose habanero in a tea ball and add to the pot. (The last time I didn't enclose it, it got lost in the reddish-yellow fish soup and Hugh got a way-too-hot mouthful. Ouch.)

Add herbs and salt and pepper. And stir.

Increase heat until the soup boils. Stir in the pasta and reduce to a simmer.

After the pasta is al dente, add beans, spinach, wine, and pesto and stir well. Add meatballs. 

Bring to a simmer and cook gently for an hour or until flavors are melded. Correct seasonings.

Serve hot with grated cheese on top.

I forgot to add the cheese! But we had fresh homemade bread next to the soup, also a great addition.

Readers: What kind of Italian food do you like? Have you ever enjoyed Italian Wedding Soup?

🍷🌿🥩🧀

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Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.