If I make soup, will fall come?

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Fall is my favorite season. Leaves turning, crisp weather. But seriously, where the funk is it? Last week, Ina Garten posted one of my favorite soups on FB, her Italian Wedding, and I thought this the perfect Sunday dinner. Being that it’s, oh, the middle of October in Seattle, one can safely assume that the weather is not going to be summer-like. But no, global warming has other ideas. Oliver and I had our family pictures Sunday afternoon and we were both sweating our asses off in sweaters (I sure hope she can photoshop my shiny face) running around Discovery Park in the blazing sun. It was 74 degrees. I mopped myself down when I got home, turned on the A/C, and got to work making this pot of deliciousness.

I only changed one thing from Ina’s recipe, I subbed kale for baby spinach, which in my mind, doesn’t hold up very well for soup. This soup is really, really flavorful, healthy and darn easy to make. The toughest critic I know said it was the best soup ever. If Oliver likes, you know shit is good.

Italian Wedding Soup – courtesy of Ina Garten

Serves 6 – Total Time: 1 hr 15 min – Prep: 30 min – Cook: 45 min

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

• 3/4 lb ground chicken breast
• 1/2 lb chicken sausage, casings removed
• 2/3 C fresh white bread crumbs
• 1T minced garlic (4 cloves)
• 3T chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 C freshly grated parmesan
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:

• 2 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, minced
• 1 cup diced carrots (3 carrots), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 3/4 cup diced celery (2 stalks), cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 10 cups chicken stock
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup small pasta such as tubetini or stars (I used elbows)
• 1/4 cup minced fresh dill
• 12 ounces baby spinach, washed and trimmed (I used 1 head lacinato kale, chopped)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the meatballs, place the ground chicken, sausage, bread crumbs, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, milk, egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a bowl and combine gently with a fork. With a teaspoon, drop 1 to 1 1/4-inch meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. (You should have about 40 meatballs. They don’t have to be perfectly round.) Bake for 30 minutes, until cooked through and lightly browned. Set aside.

In the meantime, for the soup, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, carrots, and celery and saute until softened, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and wine and bring to a boil. Add the pasta to the simmering broth and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the pasta is tender. Add the fresh dill and then the meatballs to the soup and simmer for 1 minute. Taste for salt and pepper. Stir in the fresh kaleand cook for 1 minute, until just wilted.

Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with extra grated Parmesan.

Some of my other fall soup faves from the HWW archives:

• Sausage, White Bean and Kale
• Chicken Noodle Soup
• Mexican Chicken Soup

It’s been over a month since my last post. Eek. Where does the time go? Let’s see, what’s been going on with me…. I had my one year blogaversary last month, crazy! I had my 20 year reunion, which was like the best weekend ever! Other than Oliver’s trip to Children’s that night due to the Entervirus. Nothing makes you feel like parent of the year like showing up at the ER inebriated. Not to worry, Oliver is back to ordering me around like normal.

All in all, life is good, no complaints. But I have missed you! Did you miss me? Even just a little?