Italian Wedding Soup

This Italian Wedding Soup was recently added to the top of my every growing and oh-so long que after our trip to upstate NY and Canada at the beginning of the summer. During our two day stop in Lake Placid, we had lunch at Lake Placid Brewery one of the days. It is everything you would imagine an upstate NY bar and restaurant would be, with the addition of college banners from all over the US. Surprisingly, they even had banners for University of Miami, and Florida Atlantic University as well! I ordered the Italian Wedding Soup there and it was the best I have ever had in my life. Naturally I had to add that to my list and here I am tinkering with it in the kitchen.

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 8 oz. lean ground beef
• 8 oz. ground pork
• 1/2 cup fresh white bread crumbs* (from fresh bread not dried)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp minced fresh oregano (or 3/4 tsp dried)
• 1/2 cup finely shredded parmesan
• 1 large egg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

Soup

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups chopped carrots
• 1 1/4 cups chopped yellow onion
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (1 1/2 Tbsp)
• 1 cup Pinot Grigio
• 5 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup dry acini di pepe or orzo pasta**
• 6 oz fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
• Finely shredded parmesan, for serving
  

Prepare

For the meatballs

1. First, add beef and pork to a large mixing bowl. Add in bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, parmesan, egg, 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
2. Gently toss and break up mixture with hands to evenly coat and distribute. Shape mixture into very small meatballs, about 3/4 inch to 1 inch and transfer to a large plate.
3. In an Instantpot, set the function to saute and add 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add half of the meatballs, enough to toss around, and cook until browned, turning occasionally (to brown on 2 or 3 sides), about 4 minutes total. Repeat with the remaining meatballs.
4. Transfer meatballs to a plate lined with paper towels while leaving oil in skillet. Repeat process with remaining meatballs (note that meatballs won’t be cooked through at this point, they’ll continue to cook through in the soup).

For the soup

1. In the same Instantpot, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots, onions and celery and saute until veggies have softened about 6 – 8 minutes, add garlic and saute 1 minute longer.
2. Pour in the wine to deglaze the pot and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Add the chicken broth, season soup with salt and pepper to taste and bring mixture to a boil. Add in pasta and meatballs, reduce heat to medium-low.
4. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until pasta is tender and meatballs have cooked through, about 10 minutes, while adding in spinach during the last minute of cooking.
5. Finally, serve warm, sprinkle each serving with parmesan cheese and enjoy!