Sometimes you just need to use what you have. I had purchased several family sized Minestrone dry soup mixes. I had also defrosted a large bag of Italian meatballs for spaghetti night and it never happened. I also had a bunch of arugula that needed to be used.
Hence a new soup was born and ready in 15 minutes – Minestrone Wedding Soup! It’s winter here in upstate NY. Soup is in heavy rotation. I make a lot of stocks from scratch but I am also not opposed to using a can or dry mix and generally stock our pantry with both for a quick meal. My son loves Ramen so I usually have a bunch of those around too. Once in awhile I will make a ramen broth soup with thinly sliced meats and hard boiled eggs.
We are big fans of Italian Wedding soup (generally a chicken broth base with meatballs and greens). Minestrone is generally similar (broth based) but has pasta and more robust veggies (celery and carrots). I think they compliment each other well plus I knew it would go further with all of the elements and about 12 cups of water (several cooked off). I cut the meatballs in half as they are larger and added several handfuls of roughly chopped arugula.
Served 4 for lunch with leftovers. Served with a crusty bread.
Don’t be afraid to mix and match what you have!
