Vegetarian Italian Wedding Soup

My family loves Italian Wedding Soup, but most versions contain meatballs and meat-based broth. I finally figured how to make this soup taste just as delicious (or more so), by substituting tiny cheese balls for the meatballs and using veggie broth.







We have this soup on all the major holidays, and it can be prepared ahead of time and frozen (except for the final step of adding the cheese balls). Here is Nonna's special recipe.











Vegetarian Style Italian Wedding Soup (serves eight)







Ingredients:







Three Tablespoons butter



One small onion, chopped



Two cloves garlic, chopped







One large or two small heads of escarole , washed and chopped

8 Cups of water

2 Vegetable bouillon cubes

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

1 tsp. dried basil

2 Tablespoons salt

pepper to taste

1/2 cup of arborio rice or small pasta


Melt the butter in a large pot. Add onion and garlic, cooking on low for about five minutes. Then, add the chopped escarole, stirring to coat it with butter. Add the water,bouillon, parsley, basil, salt, pepper and rice. Simmer and cook for about thirty minutes, or until rice is cooked. At this point, you are done until right before serving, when you add the cheese balls to each serving.

RICE BALLS

1/2 cup grated Romano Cheese

1/2 grated Parmesano Cheese

1 Tsp. dried parsley

1 large egg

water as needed

Mix the cheeses, parsley and eggs by hand in a bowl. You want the mixture moist enough to roll into tiny balls. If it is too dry, add a small amount of water, as needed. Roll the cheese balls in your hand and place on a plate. When you are ready to serve your soup, put about four or five cheese balls into each individual serving bowl.