Italian Wedding Soup

I've been meaning to make this soup for a while now. My grandparent's and aunt made it this quite often for family gatherings and I always loved it. I didn't really have a recipe so I kind of made it up. I think it turned out pretty tasty. I used spinach instead of escarole and added tortellini instead of a small pasta. I was so good! We ate it for dinner and then for lunch over the weekend.

Italian Wedding Soup with Tortellini

1 t butter

1 t evoo

1 medium onion, diced

2 large carrots, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

8 C chicken broth

2 T fresh parsley

1 bag of frozen cheese tortellini

a few handfulls of fresh spinach

Meatballs

1/2 pound of ground turkey

2 T finely minced onion

1 egg white

pinch of salt

pinch of dried basil

2-3 T freshly grated parmesan

1 T breadcrumbs

For the meatballs:

Gently combine all ingredients and form into small balls (about 1/2 inch in size). Set a side.

For the soup:

Melt butter and evoo in a large stock pot. Add onion and carrots and cook until onions are soft. Add thyme and garlic and cook for 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Gently drop meatballs into soup and simmer for 10 minutes. Add spinach and tortellini and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes. Season with salt a pepper to taste.

Note:

I made the soup one night and added the tortellini on the day we had it for dinner. It was even better after it had sat for a day or two in the fridge.