Italian Wedding Soup

In celebration of our recent cold(ish) and very rainy weather, I decided I needed to make some new soups for dinner.  Tonight, I hobbled together several different recipes for Italian Wedding Soup.  It is delicious!  It's actually for our dinner tomorrow night, but now I'm really looking forward to it!

Here's the recipe that I ended up with, after I took bits and pieces and adjustments from about 5 different recipes of the soup. 

Italian Wedding Soup

For the meatballs:
1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 lb. ground turkey
2/3 cup fresh white or sourdough bread crumbs
2 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbsp. fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 Tbsp. fresh chopped basil
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

For the soup:
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced
3/4 cup red onion, diced
8 cups chicken stock (homemade is best, but if using boxed/canned, go with low-sodium)
1 cup water
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 cups orzo pasta
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach, washed, trimmed of stems, and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place all meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork or clean hands.  Roll into bite-size meatballs (1 in. in diameter), which do not have to be perfectly round.  Place meatballs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.   Bake for 30 minutes or until completely done and lightly browned.

While the meatballs are cooking, heat olive oil in stockpot over medium heat.  Add carrots, celery, and onion and cook 6-8 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.  Add chicken stock and wine, cover, and bring to a boil.  Cook on full boil, covered, for 8 minutes.  Add the meatballs, parmesan cheese, parsley, and spinach and cook for 1 minute until spinach just wilts.  Taste to determine whether additional salt and pepper is desired.

Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese.