Italian Wedding Soup

First of all, let’s clarify the name – its always sorta bugged me.
It implies that this soup is traditionally served at Italian weddings, but its not. It is actually a poor translation of the Italian name – Minestra Maritata, which directly translates: Minestra – Soup, Maritata – Married. While this doesn’t roll off the English tongue as easily – it refers to the ‘marriage’ of the intense flavour combination of seasoned sausage, leafy green garden vegetables and of course garlic and basil. There! Now that we’ve got that cleared up, it makes a lot more sense and we can appreciate what we’re creating.

For my soup, my ingredients of choice generally come from my garden. Fresh garden spinach is ideal, but I generally have that only in the early part of the growing season. I do NOT buy the ‘not-as-fresh-as-you-think-it-is‘ spinach in the produce department. There is ZERO vitamin C left in spinach after the 4th day of harvest. Unless you know for sure that the ‘fresh’ spinach you’re eating has been picked within the last 96 hours, you are not getting what you previously assumed you were. When I am not using my own FRESH spinach, I prefer to use THRIVE LIFE freeze dried spinach. My reason is simple. It is picked at the peak of perfection – when all nutrients are the way nature intends, then it is washed, chopped and flash frozen within 2-4 hours! In that frozen state, it is shipped to one of their facilities where it goes through the second step of the two-step ‘freeze-drying’ process. In actual fact, it retains 95% (+) of its original food value! To me, that is a very big deal. I want the food on my table to be the best, most nourishing food I can possibly put there. Add to that the fact that it has a 25 year shelf life, and it is a total winner for me. Freeze Dried Spinach holds an honourable place in my food storage and in my pantry. It is a vegetable I use several times a week and would never be without.

The key to a beautiful Italian Wedding Soup is the combination of its intense flavours. Keep in mind that this is common food, I expect – kinda like cabbage rolls in a Ukranian household – where every family prefers it the way their gramma made it. So don’t be intimidated, but pay attention to some key ingredients.

pay attention to your ingredients

1. don’t add raw meat (yuck). Make sure the sausage or meatballs are cooked and browned. Otherwise they’ll be a yucky colour and squishy. bleh
2. garlic and Italian cooking are synonymous so be generous with it.
3. parmesan is also synonymous with Italian cooking. Just sayin’ . . . . . .
4. I think its preferable to use tiny pasta, but if you’re needing to go gluten free, or you don’t have any, use rice, and if you only have larger pasta, go for it, but be cautious about not cooking it too long.
5. Pesto. If you don’t have it, you can use lots of basil (you already have the garlic and parm in the soup). But pesto stands alone as a beautiful thing, and in my opinion – is important to the final outcome of your soup. link to my basil pesto recipe

Because I use so many freeze dried vegetables, it takes less than 20 for me to decide what I’m making, and have it on the table. Watch video here.

You’ll notice in this video that I added green onions (because I had them), and lemon juice (because I had it), and celery (because I like to). You can also substitute other greens for spinach if that’s what you have. I really prefer spinach, but I’d use kale in a pinch. I generally use freeze dried options from my pantry which simplifies everything, and keeps me up close and personal with the food I choose to include in my food storage.

Recipe: Cindy’s Italian Wedding Soup

6-8 cups chicken broth (add the remaining 2 cups later as needed)
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup orzo (or other type of small pasta)
1/2 cup Thrive FD chopped onions
1 cup Thrive FD sausage crumbles
2 T Thrive dehydrated carrots
2 heaping T Pesto (I mean HEAPING, but if you’re shy, add less)
2 cups Thrive spinach
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Bring 6 cups of broth to a boil. Add orzo, return to boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
Add garlic, onion, sausage crumbles and carrots.
Gently simmer till pasta and sausage are tender, stirring frequently (3-5 min).
Remove from heat. Add pesto and spinach. Stir to combine. Add additional broth if needed. Add parmesan.
Always taste test. Season with salt and pepper IF you feel it needs it, especially if you went light on the pesto.

Let soup sit 5 minutes for everything to get along beautifully together.
Serve and ENJOY.
+hint: I often serve with a dollop of fresh Tzatziki on top (mmmm)

Do you have any favourite tips you use for Italian Wedding Soup? I’d love to hear them.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

*other favourite garden pesto recipes:
my nasturtium pesto or radish leaf pesto recipes