Wedding Soup with Mini Ravioli

I used the same recipe (most of the time its in my head) that I use for my regular Wedding Soup. I just saw these fresh Buitoni mini ravioli’s, and thought I would put them in my soup. They do make the soup smell incredible. And the good thing is, I was planning on making meatloaf for dinner, so I made a little more to make meatballs for the soup. Then I added the veggies to the mixture for the meatloaf.

Italian Wedding Soup with Mini Ravioli

Chicken broth:
1 whole chicken
few stalks celery
few carrots
1 medium onion
fresh parsley
fresh basil
Salt & Pepper
2 whole garlic
Enough water  be 2 inches below the top of an 8 qt stockpot

Ingredients for the finished broth:
3 or 4 carrots, diced
3 or 4 stalks celery, diced
cooked chicken, small bite sized pieces
1/3 c. fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp celery leaves
Mini meatballs (recipe below)
1 pkg Buitoni fresh mini Ravioli
handful of escarole leaves, chopped (optional)

Meatballs:
1/2 lb. or so ground pork and ground beef mixture (meatloaf mix)
1 egg
1/4 c. bread crumbs
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped or dried basil
salt & pepper
Few shakes grated Parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced

Combine chicken, vegetables, herbs and water in an 8 qt stockpot. Cover, bring to boil and simmer approx 2 hours.

Meanwhile, combine meatball ingredients and form into tiny meatballs.

Remove chicken and vegetables from broth. Strain broth through screen strainer. Add diced carrots, celery, shredded chicken, herbs, meatballsand cook 30 minutes or so until vegetables are tender and meatballs are cooked. Add escarole and ravioli and cook 15 minutes or so longer.