Chicken Meatball Escarole Soup

One of our favorite soups we make often without a wedding going on is called  "Wedding Soup " The term "wedding soup" is a mistranslation of the Italian language, minestra maritata ("married soup"), which is a reference to the fact that green vegetables and meat go well together. Some form of minestra maritata was long popular in Toledo, Spain before pasta became an affordable commodity to most Spaniards, though the modern wedding soup is quite a bit lighter than the old Spanish form, which contained a large variety of meat, rather than just the meatballs of modern Italian-American versions

 6 to 8 boneless chicken legs or thighs (grandma also would use the chuck roast beef bone from a leftover Sunday sauce whatever she had leftover in meat made it's way into the pot! Grandma  had to be very frugal as money was tight in those days)
5 quart saucepan
1 cup of acini de pepe pasta (boiled  in salted water seperately)
1 cup finger carrots
1 bunch escarole chopped washed and boiled for 1/2 hour to make sure all dirt particle are out, drain and set aside. I only use escarole in my soup.

NOTE: As you read greens are your preference (you can use any greens you desire, 1 pound broccoli rabe, 2 pounds chicory, 1 pound green cabbage, collard greens, spinach etc..) There are really no  real rules, just greens and meat!

1 cup finely chopped celery
2 fresh plum tomatoes pulsed in food processor left a little chunky or leftover Sunday sauce around 1/2 cup.
3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
3 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon each garlic powder, basil and oregano
1/4 teaspoon each of thyme and rosemary
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
grating cheese for garnish

Fill pot with water around 3 1/2 quarts, add chicken and boil skimming off the top as it cooks. When broth is clear around 30 minutes of cooking time, remove chicken, cool, cut up in chunks, put back in the pot. Add escarole, herbs, spices, tomatoes, rest of vegetables and boil till tender. When the soup is a full boil, drop raw meatballs into boiling soup.  Add boiled pasta at the end.

Meatball mixture for soup:
In a bowl mix below ingredients together and set aside
1 cup of  ground beef. turkey or pork
2 tablespoons grating cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
2 tablespoon Italian flavored bread crumbs
Mix all together and drop raw small balls,  into soup while boiling.

In the United States, Italian wedding soup is most prevalent in northeastern Ohio and in western Pennsylvania. Italian descendants believe the wedding soup gives energy to a newly married couple, symbolically representing a long sustainable wedding.