A celebratory soup to kick off my 52 Soups Project in 2024
I'm going on an adventure to make a different soup every week in 2024. That's 52 different soups. Ideally one a week, but life happens so I know my soup making (and eating) may not always be on schedule.
Why 52 soups? I just like soup. It's fun to cook. But really, my motto in '24 is Consume Less (a resolution of sorts) and cooking at home is a big part of that. I've worked so hard the past few years with schedules that are all over the place and it's frankly easier in NYC to whip out your phone, click a few buttons, and voila - dinner arrives 20 minutes later.
But this year is different. I want less, not more this year. Less takeout, less plastic, less mindless online shopping, less mindless social media consumption, just ... less.
Italian Wedding Soup is up first for New Year's Eve/Day. 1 down, 51 to go. What other soups should I make this year?
Why 52 soups? I just like soup. It's fun to cook. But really, my motto in '24 is Consume Less (a resolution of sorts) and cooking at home is a big part of that. I've worked so hard the past few years with schedules that are all over the place and it's frankly easier in NYC to whip out your phone, click a few buttons, and voila - dinner arrives 20 minutes later.
But this year is different. I want less, not more this year. Less takeout, less plastic, less mindless online shopping, less mindless social media consumption, just ... less.
Italian Wedding Soup is up first for New Year's Eve/Day. 1 down, 51 to go. What other soups should I make this year?
Italian Wedding Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
(disclaimer: as always, all amounts are rough, use your best judgement and taste to your liking)
Process:
(disclaimer: as always, all amounts are rough, use your best judgement and taste to your liking)
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup shaved parmesan (plus more for finishing soup)
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper (plus more for soup)
- 1 tablespoon Maldon salt
- 2 cubes of frozen Trader Joe's garlic (or 2 finely diced gloves of garlic)
- Big handful of parsley leaves, chopped (plus another big handful for the soup)
- Big pour of Italian bread crumbs (maybe 1/8 cup?)
- 1/2 cup carrots, cut into one inch pieces
- 1/2 cup celery, cut into one inch pieces
- 1/2 onion, cut into one inch pieces
- 1-2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon
- 8 cups chicken stock (that's two of the 32 oz boxes)
- 2 big handfuls of fresh spinach
- 1 box small pasta of your choice
Process:
- In a bowl combine pork, beef, egg, parm, pepper, salt, garlic, parsley, bread crumbs until everything comes together. I like to gently squeeze through my fingers until combines. Form 1/2 inch meatballs and place on a piece of parchment paper.
- In your large soup pan, melt butter over low/medium heat. We'll be browning our meatballs in this and want some brown color to develop but you need to keep the heat in check so it doesn't burn. Point is - we'll be cooking our veg in these brown bits and they can't be burnt (otherwise the entire soup will taste icky).
- Add your meatballs to the pan. Turn after a minute or two (they should be brownish) once you start to see some brown develop in the pan. If it's too hot, turn the heat down. We aren't cooking the meatballs all the way through here anyway, so it's okay to control the temp up and down a bit.
- Once you have enough browning, remove the meatballs and set aside into a bowl.
- In the same pan, add your chopped veg and start sweating the veg in the butter. Most of the brown bits should come up as you stir, and the veg may develop some browning of their own. Cook for 5ish mins while stirring pretty regularly. Feel free to add a small handful of salt to the veg at this point.
- Add your stock and make sure to scrape any remaining brown bits (flavor) off the bottom. Add your washed and dried additional parsley (stem on is fine, you may want to remove it before serving and stem on helps you find it) to the soup and let simmer for 5-10 mins.
- Add your not fully cooked meatballs and allow to simmer (not boil - this will overcook your meatballs and result in tough meat instead of the delicate meatball you want in this soup) for 10ish mins.
- Taste your soup! Add black pepper. Add chicken bouillon if it needs it. Add a bit of butter to soften the taste in your mouth.
- Add your spinach right at the end so it stays bright green.
- While your soup is doing it's thing cook your pasta in a separate dish (and don't forget to salt the water - "salty like the sea" is what we'd say in culinary school). Make sure to only cook your pasta to a true al dente. Strain and set aside.
- Now, it's time to plate (spoon?) your soup into your favorite bowl.
- Add pasta first, then broth/veg, then a few meatballs. Top with a very generous serving of freshly grated parm.
- Enjoy soup number 1!