Sunday Dinner: Italian Wedding Soup

My, my, what a busy month it's been. I have been cooking and baking a wee bit here and there but much of my time has been spent at the brewery, bartending, and as of January, tackling my new role as Taproom Manager & Assistant to the Ambassador. Plus this, that and the other fun thing I'm usually up to.

Today just felt like a day to cook (albeit after I lounged around, visited a potential rental place, watched football and ran errands). I caught some of the Martha Stewart Show the other morning--thankfully, it was an episode focused on healthy recipes. Italian wedding soup is a more recent favorite of mine, so I decided today to take on that recipe from said episode. The one big, slightly unhealthy change I had to make was to add pasta. It's essential, right? I also switched out the escarole for spinach for two reasons: it's cheaper and it's brighter (we with the eyes first!).

So here we have my riff on light Italian wedding soup. And I'm going to be honest with you--as much as I love baking and consider it my "home" in the kitchen... this was supremely easy and yielded great results. I really look forward to integrating more home cooking into my routine.

Adapted from MarthaStewart.com.

Serves 6

Ingredients
1 pound ground dark-meat turkey (93% lean)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs (plain or seasoned)
1/4 cup grated parmigiano reggiano, plus more for serving
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) diced tomatoes in juice
1 bunch spinach, large pieces chopped or torn
1/2 cup teeny-tiny pasta (I used acini di pepe)

Preparation

1. In a bowl, combine the turkey, garlic, egg, breadcrumbs, parmigiano reggiano, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roll mixture into approximately 1-tablespoon meatballs.
2. In a large pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion and cook onion, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth and tomatoes (with juice); bring to a simmer. Add meatballs; cook, without stirring, until meatballs float to surface, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in pasta and add as much spinach to pot as will fit. Cook, gradually adding remaining spinach, until wilted and meatballs are cooked through, 5-6 minutes more. Thin soup with water if desired (I added about 8 ounces); season with salt and pepper. Serve  sprinkled with more parmigiano reggiano and a slice of Italian bread.