Vonda Bucci's Quickie Italian Wedding Soup

Makes 8 to 10 servings

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For the meatballs:

3 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black

pepper

1 teaspoon dry Italian       seasoning

1 teaspoon dry parsley

¾ cup panko bread

crumbs

¼ cup milk

2 pounds ground meat

(mix pork, beef and

veal)

For the soup:

½ cup onions, diced

½ cup chopped carrots

½ cup chopped celery

3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt, to taste

1 large can College Inn    chicken broth

1 8-ounce can Hunt's

tomato sauce

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon dry

or fresh parsley

Chicken with bone

and skin

(1 whole split

breast, 2 thighs,

2 wings)

1 head escarole

(cleaned and

chopped), or

1 10-ounce

package   frozen        spinach

1/4 cup melon seed       pasta

3 eggs

1/2 cup Locatelli

cheese

(or Parmesan)

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1. For the meatballs: Mix together all the ingredients except the meat, and let sit for 30 minutes. Mix in the meat and form into about 16 two-inch-wide balls using an ice cream scoop. Set aside 12 for a future meal (Vonda pan-fries hers in olive oil.) Use the remaining 4 balls for the soup, pinching off smaller bits and, with wet hands, rolling marble-sized mini-balls. There should be enough to cover a dinner plate lined with wax paper. If not using immediately, place in freezer to harden overnight, then put in a freezer bag until ready to cook.

2. For the soup: In a large pot, saute the onions, carrots, and celery in hot olive oil, and season with salt. Add can of chicken broth, then enough water to fill the can. Add can of tomato sauce, bay leaves, and parsley. Add chicken pieces, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add escarole (or spinach) and meatballs; simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove chicken pieces, shred meat, and return meat to pot.

3. Bring soup to boil and add the pasta. Blend the eggs in a bowl with Locatelli cheese and drizzle a thin stream into the boiling broth, moving the stream around the pot to avoid too much clumping. Do not stir (or broth gets cloudy). Turn off heat, cover pot, and let sit for 15 minutes. Serve.

After a long day at the luncheonette, Vonda Bucci takes comfort in knowing she always has a pot of this hearty soup waiting in the fridge. In true South Philly Italian mamma form, her recipe is actually two meals in one - a big batch of meatballs (for later), from which a quarter of the meat is pinched into mini-balls for this soup.

Per serving (based on 10): 477 calories, 61 grams protein, 12 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams sugar, 20 grams fat, 263 milligrams cholesterol, 846 milligrams sodium, 2 grams dietary fiber.EndText