Sunday 9 January 2011

If You Want To See That Italian Tower Leaning

Call me uncultured, but I had no idea what comprised Italian wedding soup until looking it up just now. So when I saw it on the deli menu board, I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat it or not. There was no description - just the name. I asked the deli lady if it contained meat (I have strict rules about eating fast food meat - the only acceptable forms are Tim Horton's chicken noodle soup, Wendy's junior cheeseburger deluxe, and A&W's teenburger without bacon. Please don't ask me why; I can't explain my crazy, I can only abide by it and hope that it doesn't steer me wrong.) She told me that nope, no meat in there. Just pasta and meatballs. And then my head melted. No meat, just ... balls of meat? Please, deli lady, please explain your logic.

So of course now I have to make Italian wedding soup. Anyone with a recipe they'd like to share?

12 comments:

  1. I always ask if there is meat. I often get 'nope, just chicken!' or something similar. People are nuts. No help on the Italian Wedding Soup. I don't do meatballs :)

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  2. Italian Wedding Soup is FUCKING INCREDIBLE. I've never actually made it, though. Just do yourself a favor and never buy the canned version. GROSS.

    Giada has a recipe, but she uses egg instead of pasta. It's a highly rated recipe, but I am leery of anyone who voluntarily leaves pasta out of the equation:
    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/italian-wedding-soup-recipe/index.html

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  3. I had something similar happen at a work cookout. I told the lady ordering the food in advance that I was vegetarian. Then the day of the cookout, she walked me over to a table and pointed out the turkey burgers and chicken franks for me. I was like "I can't eat that. I'm a vegetarian." Her response, said with an attitude, was "Oh you're one-a-dem strict vegetarians." Um, WTF?

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  4. LOL So amazing. People always wonder if I really don't eat fish, it's like "Anything that's an animal I don't eat!" and they still don't quite get it.. :)

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  5. Sometimes the 'meatballs' are a breadcrumb dumpling - like the kind made when meat was scarce during the great depression. My mom's recipe (4th? generation homemade German recipe) for them is perfect for adding to chicken soup or to italian matrimony soup. They freeze really well too. I'll ask her to email it to you.
    Not likely fast food places would use meatless balls (that's what she said) but with the crazy things they put in the food these days, it's probably not even meat to begin with anyway.
    love.

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  6. That sounds like an amazing soup! We tried a few gourmet recipes this weekend, including a cream of squash casserole, Indian-style broccoli, and chicken wrapped in bacon and served with a raspberry sauce... it was divine :)

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  7. haha wow that sounds like part of a stand up routine "no meat, just meatballs", oh people.

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  8. Sometimes it helps if you ask, point blank, if any ingredient, at any time, ever had a face. It is kind of gross, and it will cause people to be a bit taken aback, but it works.

    I don't have any good recipes for Italian wedding soup. I'll let you know if I find one!

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  9. Is there meat? 'Nope, just meatballs' Hahahah! My vegan friends would have a freaking hoot about that!

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  10. That reminds me of the scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding when she tells them that her fiance is a vegetarian but the aunt says, "but you eat lamb, yes??!!"

    Oh people. ;)

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  11. Ha! "No meat, just meatballs."

    Let me know how it turns out. I'm always looking for new recipes. :)

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  12. I don't have a good recipe for Italian Wedding Soup. But, your mention of deli made me remember a trip I took to NYC with a girlfriend. We stumbled into a corner deli and were shocked about how much food there was, the layout, etc. We took photos and ran back to tell my brother about our discovery ... only for him to laugh at us and tell us there are delis on practically every corner in Manhattan. Sigh.

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