Wedding soup or Italian wedding soup is an Italian-American soup consisting of green vegetables and meat. It is popular in the United States, where it is a staple in many Italian restaurants.
Ingredients
Wedding soup consists of green vegetables (usually endive and escarole or cabbage, lettuce, kale, and/or spinach) and meat (usually meatballs and/or sausage containing Italian parsley and parmesan cheese) in a clear chicken-based broth. Wedding soup sometimes contains pasta (usually cavatelli, acini di pepe, pastina, orzo, etc.), lentils, or grated parmesan cheese.
Origin
The term "wedding soup" comes from the Italian language phrase "minestra maritata ("married soup")," which is a reference to the flavor produced by the combination/"marriage" of greens and the broth. The minestra maritata recipe is also prepared by the families of Lazio and Campania. Some form of minestra maritata was long popular in Toledo, Spain, before pasta became an affordable commodity to most Spaniards. The modern wedding soup is quite a bit lighter than the old Spanish form, which contained more meats than just the meatballs of modern Italian-American versions.
See also
- Hochzeitssuppe
- List of soups
References
External links
- About.com page on the history of wedding soup
- Kitchen Mailbox
- Recipe at foodnetwork.com
