Have you guys ever heard of Italian Wedding Soup? I have seen it in cans in the soup isle of the grocery store. Not like I'm shopping for canned soup, I just visit the isle for veggie broth on occasion-- but not this occasion, because I had a vault of homemade that's taking up some precious real estate in my fridge at the moment. This soup luckily helped deplete it, or just make some space in the fridge for my soup.
You know the saying favoring Andy Warhol's brilliance or whatever that's like, "It's not about the person who painted the can of soup, It's about the person who had the idea to paint the can of soup"? Well I think I'll drop some brilliant knowledge and say I think it's not about the person who made Italian wedding soup-- It's about the person who veganized it.
Apparently, Italian Wedding Soup is about as authentic Italian as Spaghetti & Meatballs (which isn't really Italian... at all). It's the American version of Italian food, which we all hate to admit that we totally love. Because we aren't Italian-- We're American. Unless of course you're reading this from Sweden because you're Swedish or something. Then.. um nevermind.
Anyhow, it was born from a mistranslation of an Italian soup called "minestra maritata" which would literally mean in English, "married soup." I think the Italians meant the flavors in the soup were married, not the people who eat the soup were married. Who's to say?
So I was flipping through an issue of "Eating Well" magazine in a waiting room at my dentist's office and saw a recipe for Italian Wedding Soup, and I thought of how I had always seen this soup, but never eaten it, you know, in my pregan life. So I decided to be all cutting-edge and stuff and veganize the cazzo out this soup and make it ever-so-amazing. It didn't hurt that I was planning on making meetballs for the superbowl this weekend anyways.. Okay I guess I don't really know what cutting-edge means.
Maybe I was Italian in another life. I live my life as an Irish&Polish American proudly. I take an extra shot of Jameson for Grandma and Grandpa and pour one out for my DziaDzio, wherever he may be. I like to embrace my heritage, mostly because it helps shape who I am, but also because I can't change it. So if you don't embrace it, then what else do you do? Ignore it? Anyways I'm trying to talk about how I'm not Italian, but find some sort of affinity with Italian food. I know the flavors really well, I know the methods and the traditional concepts, and really, when I'm craving something, it almost always has pasta to do with it. Maybe I just love American food that's influenced by Italian food. Okay, maybe I don't really know what affinity means.
Italian Wedding Soup
1 recipe meetbaulbs, rolled into 1/2 inch balls
8 cups veggie stock, homemade rocks the house here
1 large bunch lacinato kale, deveined and torn into pieces
2-3 cups baby spinach
1 large onion, quartered and sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 cup israeli couscous
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon adobo spice or vegetable broth powder
1 teaspoon olive oil
Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat.
Add onion to the pan and sauté for 6-7 minutes or until soft and lightly brown. Add bell pepper and carrot to the onion and sauté for 5-6 minutes, until veggies are soft and light brown. Add garlic and stir for 1 minute, then add kale and spinach. Using tongs, stir and mix the greens up with the veggies until the greens are wilted. Now pour in veggie broth, salt, pepper and spices. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, and simmer about 10 minutes. Then add the israeli couscous and cover for about 4 minutes, until the couscous is puffed up and soft. Ladle into bowls and top with a handful of mini meetbaulbs and chopped parsley.
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