The Best Meal We Ate This Week: Wedding Soup at Papa J’s

DNA went to PaPa J’s this week to taste their wedding soup. We made a great choice of restaurants and a great selection to try.

Wedding soup is sometimes called Italian Penicillin, because this bone broth soup is a comfort food that heals the sick.

The name wedding soup describes it as a marriage of the bitter and the sweet - balancing - the bitter of the greens and the sweet of the Mirepoix (the sweet carrots, celery and onions.)

To Prepare Wedding soup:

Boil a stock pot of water sized to fit a whole “fryer” size chicken.

Add chicken to the stock pot of rapidly boiling water for 1 minute, then, remove chicken from stock pot to a roasting pan and discard the water (this will remove impurities and create a clear broth in the final soup)

To roasting pan with the whole Chicken add whole washed carrots, celery, onions and season with salt and pepper to taste, roast until cooked through (the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 170º F.)

Move roasted whole Chicken and vegetables Stock Pot and simmer for 2-3 hours. Skim and discard any impurities as they rise to the surface.

Strain the broth into another larger stock pot with a fine stainless mesh strainer.Allow the Chicken to cool. Debone the meat from the Chicken and discard the Chicken Bones, Carrots, Celery and Onion Scraps.

Bring a stockpot with prepared chicken stock to a boil,

Add bias cut (smaller than a spoon) peeled and diced Carrots and Celery.

To the boiling stock, add scrambled fresh eggs while stirring to create an egg drop.

Add fresh Spinach.

Add cooked baby Veal Meatballs.

Add Pastina.

Serve with Fresh Crostini and Fresh Grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

If you want to save time and not do the work, just go to Papa J's at 2020 Smallman St.

Open Lunch and Dinner Wednesday - Sunday. 412-279-7272.