Delicious

Not only is Fabio Viviani the hottest contestant ever to grace Top Chef, he's a damn good chef too.  Yesterday, I followed this recipe and created a bangin' Italian Wedding Soup. If you can get past the annoying lady with him in the video, he'll tell you in his irresistible Italian accent how to make it.

I substituted turkey for beef and had Jason (doing his best Fabio impersonation, of course) make the meatballs because raw meat weirds me out.  It's painfully easy to do this and it doesn't take that long to develop a ton of flavor. I totally stole the phrase "develop flavor" from Top Chef, so you can say it too while you develop some flavors of your own.

I can't emphasize enough how delicious this soup is...I mean, woah!  It's damn good!  It also makes a ton, so you can have a big pretend Italian Family dinner or eat left over soup until you never want to see it again, either way, you're going to love this recipe.


So, get thee to the groc, and get thee to the kitch, and make this soup!

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef (or turkey)

2 ea. eggs

1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

3 Tbsp. parmesan cheese, grated

3 quarts chicken broth

3 cups fresh baby spinach

1 cup carrots, diced

1 cup yellow onion, diced

1 cup celery, diced

2 cups orzo pasta

½ cup (to taste) extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Directions

Saute carrots, onion and celery in oil until soft and starting to brown.
Add Chicken stock. Let the mixture reduce on high heat.
While boiling, mix beef, eggs, breadcrumbs and parmesan in a separate bowl to make meatballs. Form into ½ inch balls, and set on a baking sheet.
Cook meatballs on the baking sheet in 375F degree oven for 12-15 minutes.
Add pasta to soup to cook.
When meatballs are cooked, add them to the soup.
Stir in the spinach to the soup.
Boil 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper.