Italian Wedding Soup

My sister told me about this recipe - she saw it made on a Food Network show and copied from what they did. I made it this week, and it was easy to do and turns out really well. I had some chicken stock on hand, so I added that to the water I boiled the chicken in, because I just boiled one bone-in, skin-on breast, rather than a whole bird, since it's just me and I try not to eat a lot of meat. I also added some fresh tarragon that I had left over from something else, since fresh herbs are expensive and I don't like them to go to waste. It's great soup, and perfect since winter won't seem to move on!

Ingredients:

Whole chicken or game hen

Large head of escarole (or spinach - what I used because I couldn't find escarole)

Two yellow onions

Celery

Carrots

Garlic

Oregano

Bay leaves

Orzo (or very small pasta, like pastina)

Salt

Ground beef or turkey

2 eggs

Bread

Milk

Boil a whole chicken (for one person, I would get either some chicken on the bone or a small game hen or chicken piece(s)). Add to the water chopped carrot, celery and onion and some oregano, a bay leaf and some salt. Let the chicken boil down for about an hour. After an hour, remove the chicken to a plate to cool.

While the chicken is boiling, make your tiny meatballs (you can use ground turkey. I saute some onion, garlic and celery to add to mine along with a piece of bread soaked in milk and one or two eggs, two if you’re using turkey, salt and pepper. You can substitute breadcrumbs for the bread.) The meatballs should be small. Bake them for about ½ an hour to 40 minutes.

Tear the meat off the chicken, shredding it, and add back to the soup base.

Chop the head of escarole and add to soup

Add meatballs

Add orzo

Cook until the orzo is tender and voila! Italian wedding soup.