Pastina soup is the dish every Italian grew up with when they were sick, the comforting remedy their mom or nonna would lovingly prepare. For us in North America, it’s the Italian equivalent of chicken noodle soup. The two are somewhat similar, sure, but pastina wins the comfort food battle any day of the week.
There’s no single official recipe for pastina soup. Every nonna has her own cherished version, usually passed down without ever being written on paper. It keeps well in the fridge for up to three days, and you can freeze it too, just cook the pasta a touch less than usual if you’re planning to freeze it, since it’ll continue softening once reheated.
(Experiment 38) Pastina soup
Ingredients
- 2 peeled carrots roughly chopped
- 1 onion roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 1 shallot roughly chopped
- 2 L veggie or chicken broth low sodium
- 3-4 tbps Extra virgin oil
- 20 g butter
- ~1 cup of noodle stelette,orzo, risonni etc any small shaped pasta work
- 4 stalk of celery roughly chopped
- ~2cup of cooked chicken finely chopped omit if you dont eat meat
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- freshly grated parmesan
- Optional garnish with fresh thyme leaves
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Add the celery, onion, and shallot; cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the garlic, stir, and cook for another 2 minutes. Stir in the broth, salt, and carrot; bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 25 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the vegetables and transfer them to a blender with about 1 cup of the broth. Blend until smooth and set aside.
- In the pot with the remaining broth, add the noodles and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 minute less than the package instructions. Turn off the heat.
- Return the blended vegetables to the pot along with the chopped chicken. Mix well and let the flavors meld for 5–10 minutes.
- Serve topped with fresh thyme and grated Parmesan (it’s delicious even without, but these elevate it).