Casual Family Get Together

On Sunday, we had a small family get-together to celebrate my younger daughter's 13th birthday.

The cooking theme was Italian. I made antipasto, salad, soup and lasagna, with cake and ice cream for dessert. This is the recipe for the soup. If you have ever been to Eastside Mario's Restaurant, you should be familiar with this soup. I went there once and this was the part of the meal that stood out.

It's a simple soup - broth, little meatballs, acini di pepe pasta and baby spinach. I have perfected my own recipe over the years and here it is.

Italian Wedding Soup

5 cups of chicken broth - I use homemade, but low-sodium store bought works too
2 pounds of ground chicken or ground turkey
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper to taste
3/4 cup acini di pepe pasta - this is small pasta that looks like ball bearings! If you can't find this kind of pasta use the smallest pasta you can find. I once used little stars!
2 - 3 cups of fresh baby spinach. If you like arugula, that also works well

Preheat the oven to 425F

Mix ground chicken, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper together in a bowl.

Once mixture is well blended, form into small meatballs. I use a teaspoon to measure the amount of meat. They look really small, but if you're using chicken, they will actually get bigger once you cook them. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, single layer.
Place in the over, after 7 minutes turn. Bake about 7 more minutes. This is to brown the meatballs so they will not fall apart in the soup.

Once the meatballs are browned, add them to the stock, bring to a boil and cook on high heat for about 15 minutes. This will cook the meatball through and add more flavour to your broth. After about 15 minutes, add pasta to boiling pot. Stir constantly for about 3 -4 minutes so pasta doesn't stick. Turn heat down to medium, add baby spinach. Cover pot, wait 3 -4 minutes to wilt spinach and serve.

This will serve 4- 6 people.