Modification Monday: In Search of Fond Memories

You know when you start with one recipe and then end up with something totally different? Or start with a vision in your head they you can’t find a recipe for, so you find 3 or 4 recipes that are sort of similar and awkwardly mash them together, with a bit of your own flare? Or have to adapt well-loved favorites to new dietary restrictions? Or look at old stand-bys and think: “This should totally have bacon. Or tomatoes. Or bourbon.”? Yeah, the Modification Mondays series is for you. Don’t worry, we don’t expect you to follow our recipes either.

So I love Italian wedding soup. Specifically I love Knox’s* version of Italian wedding soup, which I’m sure is nothing special. It probably comes out of a can, but I love it so much. Italian wedding soup days meant nothing but Italian wedding soup, didn’t matter what was on the dessert bar; nothing would adulterate that delicious soup. Well maybe I exaggerate a little bit, but I usually had two bowls so that didn’t leave a lot of room for anything else. So I was pretty excited to find this in my Crockpot cookbook.

*Knox is a college.

 

Nana’s Mini Meatball soup
Prep Time: 30 min 
Cook Time: 9 hr
Servings: 6-8 servings


Ingredients:
(US measurements)
1lb ground beef
1lb ground pork
1 ½ cups finely grated pecorino romano or Parmesan cheese
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 bunch flat leaf parsley
3 quarts chicken stock
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 bunch escarole, coarsely chopped
½ box (8 oz) ditalini pasta, cooked


Instructions:

1. Combine beef, pork, cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper in large bowl. Mix well by hand and roll into ¾ inch meatballs,
   
2. Add meatballs and stock to crock pot. Cook on low 9 hrs or on high 5 hrs.
   
3. Add escarole and cook until escarole has wilted and is bright green and tender, about 15 min. Add cooked ditalini to soup and serve.
   

According to the book it makes 6-8 servings and you’re supposed to use a crock pot. Both of these things are a problem. If I make 6-8 servings I will never, ever finish it and I don’t have a crock pot.


What did I do? Read on!


Sara’s Version of Mini Meatball Soup
Prep Time: 30 min 
Cook Time: 1 hr
Servings: 4

Ingredients:
(US measurements)
2 Italian sausages (from Aldis)
½ cup romano cheese (ish)
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 egg
A pinch of dried parsley (I’m not paying for fresh, that stuff’s expensive)
1 box chicken stock (this was nowhere close to enough liquid. I had to add a bunch of water and two bullion cubes, but a second box of chicken stock would have been better)
1 bunch escarole, coarsely chopped (I cleverly deduced this is the green stuff in the picture. Otherwise I would have had to google it in order to find it in the grocery store.)
1/3 box Acini di Pepe (I think that’s the name of the pasta, anyway its little buttons of pasta like they chopped up spaghetti really small.)
 
Instructions:

1. Combine sausage, cheese, bread crumbs, eggs, and parsley in large bowl. Mix well by hand and roll into 1 inch meatballs.
   
2. Add meatballs and stock to medium sauce pan. Boil that until it’s done. (Sorry I didn’t keep track of the time. It might have been 45 min? I made pretty big meatballs.)
   
3. Add escarole and cook until escarole has wilted and is bright green and tender, about 15 min. Add cooked pasta to soup and serve.
   

I probably could have added the pasta straight into the soup, but it was getting pretty crowded in there so I cooked it separately.

The final product.

Was this soup as delicious as Knox’s? In a word, no, but It was pretty tasty. Next time I try this, I’ll probably be making it for Erik and I so I can use the proportions listed in the first set of ingredients. I’ll try it with ground beef and/or pork instead of the sausage. I’ll skip the cheese (it just makes my spoon cheesy, I don’t think it adds much) and I’ll use a different green. I didn’t really like the escarole. I usually like trying new things, but this was like of like spicy lettuce and I have sooooo much left over that I will be spicy lettuced out by the end of it.

I’ve eaten the soup 3 times since I made it and I still have another portion left to go so that worked out pretty perfectly. I usually like to make myself something on Monday, because that is my only free evening during the week and with class and everything I’m usually too busy or tired to cook the other days.