Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup. Is it traditionally served at weddings in Italy? No. It's just a funny translation for minestra maritata, vegetables "married" to meat in a soup. Celeb chefs always talk about "letting flavors marry." That's what this soup is talking about. Let the greens love on those meatballs. Oh yeah.

I looked at my stash of veggies and saw the makings of a good hearty soup. Carrots, Swiss chard, leeks (yes, more leeks), celery. More ground turkey and barley I've been wanting to use came out of the refrigerator. Homemade chicken stock defrosted overnight. Soup time was here.

All I needed was a little help with a recipe. I found Ina Garten's (a.k.a. the Barefoot Contessa) {recipe} on foodnetwork.com. It sounded perfect to me. I was not disappointed.

You start by making the meatballs and baking them in the oven.

Then you start the soup base. Olive oil in the pot...

...then add your chopped veggies (everything but the leafy greens). Notice I used leeks in place of onion again. That's all I had...

Cook those down and add the stock, bringing it all to a boil. Add the barley or rice or little pasta (whatever you like).

Finish it off by adding the greens. I used chard, but you could use the traditional spinach or even collards. Then don't forget the meatballs. This is assuming you haven't eaten all of them before the soup was ready. They are really very delicious on their own. Trust me. I know.

Ladel out a bowl for you and yours. Top it with grated parmesan cheese. Eat. Repeat.

Happy cookin'!