Italian(-inspired) wedding soup
Posting here so I sort of remember what I did (measurements are approximate).
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 2 lbs. ground turkey
- 1 large onion, grated
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (Dude, use Parmigiano-Reggiano if you can afford it, Grana Padano or domestic parmesan if you can’t. Just FFS don’t use that stuff in a can or plastic jar)
- 1/4 cup romano cheese (Same deal. Pecorino Romano if you can afford it. A domestic alternative if you can’t. Or just double the parmesan).
- 3/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley. (We’re making small meat balls, so we need small bits)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs. You don’t want the mixture to be too moist, but you don’t want it to be too dry either. Bready meatballs are gross.
The rest of the stuff
- 3 quarts of chicken broth or stock
- Two bunches of Lacinato Kale (the smaller, organic-sized bunches; see a photo) chopped into 1″ wide strips. You’ll be eating this with a spoon, so you don’t want the bits to be too ribbon-y. Yes, you can use regular kale if you can’t find Lacinato kale. Lacinato kale is also known as dinosaur kale, black cabbage, black kale, or Tuscan kale.
- 1 cup cooked ancini di pepe or orzo if you can find it. You can use Israeli couscous, if you can find that instead. Don’t try to use fine-grained couscous though. If you plan to eat the soup all in one day, you can add it without cooking. But if you plan to have leftovers, trust me when I say cook the pasta first. Otherwise, it will just suck up all of the broth.
- White salt and black pepper to taste
- Bonus points: Black salt (Kala Namak) to taste. (Check your nearest Indian grocery store).
What to do
Pour the broth / stock into a big enough pot and bring to a boil. Add the kale and turn it down to a simmer. Check it in about 20-25 minutes.
Make the meatballs. Dump all of the meatball ingredients in an appropriately-sized bowl, and mix with your hands until blended. Don’t mix it too much though. Then you’ll have tough turkey balls. Once the ingredients are blended, start rolling it into meatballs that are 1/2 to 1″ in diameter. Whichever size you choose, though, make them uniform(-ish) so they cook at the same rate.
About halfway through the meatball making, check your kale. You don’t want it to get too tender too fast. Taste it. If, while in your mouth, it feels like it’s about halfway to being fully-tender, that’s fine. If it feels like it’s further cooked than that, take it off the heat until you’re done rolling meatballs.
When you are done making the meatballs, add them to the broth (if you took it off the heat, remember to put it back on the heat first). Simmer the meatballs in the soup for about 10 minutes. Add the ancini de pepe or Israeli couscous, and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes or so. During this last 10 minutes is when you should add salt, pepper, and optionally black salt (kala namak) to taste.
A few notes about kala namak black salt.
- It’s actually not black, but pink.
- Its sulfur content means that it tastes and smells a bit like not-so-fresh boiled eggs.
- That egg flavor gives chicken broth-based soups a nice egg-y richness that’s similar to egg drop soup, but without the heft of egg drop soup.
- Use too much and your mouth will taste like you just sucked on a struck match. A pinch or two per bowl is plenty.
This recipe will yield 8-10 decent-sized bowls of soup.