You’ve heard of Italian Wedding Soup… right? Little tiny pearl pasta. Little tiny meatballs. Delicately shredded spinach. A light chicken broth. Presumably the soup is made this way so that the bride and groom do not get overstuffed and sleepy on their wedding night and miss out on some of the other stuff they had planned to do……. you know, like picking out silverware.
Now we know that about 1 out of 2 marriages end in divorce. So it stands to reason that there ought to be a soup for that as well. Povertystew to the rescue.
If you’re recently divorced* you owe it to yourself to give this recipe a go. Our Alimony Stew is assembled with the same basic ingredients as the wedding soup – except everything about it is big and honking. This is comfort food when you need it most. And besides, it’s not like you’re going to be picking out silverware anytime soon.**
Need This
6 cups of chicken broth
1 pound bag of frozen cheese (or meat) tortellini – store brand is fine
1 – 26 ounce bag of frozen meatballs
6 ounces of frozen chopped spinach
2 ribs of celery – course chopped
1 medium onion – chopped
1 cup of shredded carrots
6 whole garlic cloves – peeled
Olive oil
Grated Parmesan cheese
Do This
Fill a medium sized pot about three quarters full with clean cold water. Set the water on high heat and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, dump in the bag of frozen meatballs and boil them on a rolling boil for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour a glug of olive oil into a large pot. Add the garlic cloves, celery, carrots and onion and set it on medium heat, Sweat the garlic and veg in the oil for at least five minutes, stirring frequently. Next add the chopped spinach and continue frying and stirring for another two minutes. Now add the can of chicken broth. Reduce the heat a little so that the soup comes to a gentle boil.
Drain the water off the meatballs. Add the meatballs to the simmering soup. Rinse out the pot that had the meatballs and again fill it about three quarters with clean cold water. Bring the water to a rapid boil then add the frozen tortellini. Boil the torts for about 3 minutes stirring frequently. Drain the tortellini in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop them from cooking further.
Note: We boil the tortellini and frozen meatballs in advance so that they don’t absorb all the water out of that there soup. Lefty – Povertystew Kitchen Manager
Continue to simmer the soup on low heat (uncovered) for about 30 minutes. Add the tortellini at about the 20 minute mark. Stir everything up real nice before serving. Serve hot with the grated parmesan cheese and a good rustic bread.
Makes about 6 servings. My Cost Approx. $ 10.30 Total – about $ 1.70 per serving
*Sorry about that. GMN
**Sorry about that too. GMN