First Thoughts – Mom came across a recipe for Italian Wedding Pasta, based on Italian Wedding Soup. Since I like Italian Wedding soup, she was going to give me the recipe after she had tried it. For whatever reason, she never ended up making it, and so she gave me the box of farfalle she bought for the recipe, with the recipe attached.

Recipe Alterations – The recipe called for a cup of freshly grated Romano cheese. Since I didn’t have any, and couldn’t find any at Meijer, I used the Kraft Shredded Parmesan, Romano & Asiago blend (NOT the grated, powdery stuff). The recipe called for a 9 ounce bag of spinach, but I ended up putting maybe half of that in. Also, the recipe claims it makes thirty-six 1″ meatballs, but I got maybe 23 or 24. The serving suggestion on the original recipe claimed it made 8 entree sized servings, but I got 3 servings, and 3 dishes of leftovers.

Possible Changes – I found the meatballs to be a bit bland. The recipe called for plain breadcrumbs, but in the future I would try Italian breadcrumbs, adding some Italian seasoning, or using seasoned ground turkey. I would also try to get some Romano cheese instead of the Kraft Shredded Blend, as Romano has a stronger flavor than Parmesan. As there is cheese in the meatballs, that could also be affecting the flavor a bit. Since the spinach shrinks up a fair bit once cooked, I would probably put more in next time, but would chop the hell out of it. I like the flavor of spinach, but not the texture. The recipe also has you cook the pasta until almost done, then drain it, return it to the pot and basically make the sauce in the pot with the pasta, thus finishing cooking the pasta. That seemed to be way more trouble than it was worth, in my eyes. I would boil the pasta, then make the sauce, then combine them.

Would I Eat it Again? Definitely! It was nice, because I could make it ahead of time and put in the fridge, then pop it in the oven when we were ready for dinner. With a few alterations, I think this could be a very good dinner. It tended to dry out a bit when I reheated it in the microwave, though, so I might see about halving the recipe if it’s just Matt & I.

Download the recipe – Italian Wedding Pasta