Italian Wedding Soup

An Italian-American soup of green vegetables (endive and escarole or cabbage, lettuce, kale, and spinach) with meatballs and/or sausage, in a clear chicken broth. The soup sometimes contains pasta as well.

This version of wedding soup originated in Western Pennsylvania or Ohio, and is not a wedding specialty but it is found on restaurant menus. "Wedding soup" is a mistranslation of minestra maritata, "married soup," which refers to the "marriage" of the green vegetables to the meat. An earlier, heavier form of minestra maritata, with much more meat, was popular in Toledo, Spain.

8 cups homemade chicken broth

For the meatballs:
1/2 pound ground veal, or pork
1/2 pound ground sirloin
[1 small onion, grated]
[1 clove garlic, minced]
1 large egg
1 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese [1/2 cup]
1/2 cups bread crumbs
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper

1 small head of escarole, washed, trimmed and chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, for serving
[1/2 cup small pasta such as ditalini or acini de pepe]

Heat the broth in a large pot. Mix together the meats, egg, cheese, bread crumbs, parsley and salt and pepper. Once the broth is hot, reduce it to a simmer. Form small meatballs about one inch in diameter (makes about 20), and drop them into the broth. Cook for about 15 minutes or until all the meatballs float to the top.

Skim off any foam that develops as the meatballs cook. Then drop in the escarole. Cook for a few more minutes until the escarole is slightly wilted. Serve the soup in individual bowls, with a good helping of grated cheese on top.

1 pound of ground meat makes about 20 meatballs - about 4 servings