Italian Wedding Soup

Italian wedding soup is the best. Whenever I cook for my friends, this is the dish that gets the most rave reviews. But I have a dirty secret. It's actually really easy to make. It's just chicken stock, escarole, chicken breast, and meatballs. The meatballs are the trickiest part. Meatballs aren't tricky. If you can make meatballs, you can make Italian wedding soup.

Since it's so simple, it is essential that you use a high quality chicken stock. I make my own (which is actually the most time-consuming part - after that it's a cakewalk). There really isn't anything else to say. So let's get right to it.

Time: 2 h 30 min
Serves: 12

Ingredients

2 quarts chicken stock (if homemade, salted to taste)
2 heads of escarole (I guess you could use other leafy, bitter greens)
2 lbs. chicken breast
2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 tsp Italian herbs
1 cup (or more) plain bread crumb
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 lb. box of orzo (or other small pasta like acini di pepe)
Shredded Parmesan cheese for serving

1. In a large stockpot, bring the chicken stock to a light simmer.

2. Chop escarole very roughly (it will reduce greatly during the cooking process), then add it to the stockpot. Simmer escarole in stock for about one hour.

3. While the escarole is simmering, mix the ground beef, the Italian herbs, 1 tsp. salt, and the pepper together by hand. (If you don't like getting your hands dirty, invest in some disposable gloves. You also might want to take the beef out a little early or your hand might end up feeling like a popsicle.) Add the bread crumb a quarter cup at a time, kneading it completely into the ground beef mixture before adding more. Some people add egg to their meatballs, but I find that enough breadcrumb binds just as well, and gives them a denser texture that I happen to like.

4. After the escarole has simmered for that hour, form the meat mixture into bite-sized meatballs. (I am lazy so I assume people have larger mouths than they actually do, and my meatballs usually end up being two-bite-sized.) Add them to the stock pot as you make them. Simmer the soup another half-hour.

5. After the soup has simmered that half an hour, add the chicken breasts, whole, to the pot. Simmer another half-hour.

6. In a separate stockpot, get a few quarts of water boiling for the pasta. I usually add some salt and oil to my water, but I am going to assume you can make pasta.

7. After the chicken has simmered that half-hour, remove it from the soup and let it rest (on a cutting board or plate or something to catch the juices. And tear one open to make sure they are cooked through all the way. [They should be, but they are making some mutant chickens these days whose breasts are way too big.] Obviously add it back to the soup if it's not cooked all the way through.)

8. While the chicken is resting, add the orzo to the pot with boiling water. Cook it about a minute shorter than directed. Drain the pasta.

9. While the pasta is draining, shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces with some forks. Add it back to the soup.

10. Turn the heat on the soup off, and add the orzo. (If you plan on having leftovers, you might not want to add the orzo directly to the soup. It will suck up all the stock overnight and you'll end up with more of a pasta dish. So you might want to add the orzo to each bowl directly, and store the orzo separately from the soup.)

11. Serve with some grated Parmesan cheese!