Grace Parisi’s kids love a particular brand of canned soup filled with chicken meatballs and soggy pasta, but she prefers real minestra maritata (Italian wedding soup). She makes tiny pork meatballs and simmers them with orzo, chickpeas, spinach and parmesan. She occasionally substitutes green beans for the spinach, depending on who is at the table.More Meatball Soup Recipes
Yeah, I would never add the pasta to the soup until it's finished cooking. Even then, I often keep it aside and only add it separately, to each bowl. Adding it to the cooking soup is condemning the soup to only another 24-36 hours before it become pasta stew.
The orzo should be cooked separately, and then added, to avoid the starch contaminating the nice broth. - Most popular though, is to have egg noodles with the broth, not orzo pasta. Substituting green beans for the spinach? It's a no no ---- but kids may like it better. Also, kids may like the orzo better than egg noodles.
