Italian Penicillin Pastina Soup

Ingredients

• 8 cup chicken stock
• 3.5 carrots (roughly chopped; source specifies 3–4)
• 3.5 celery stalks (roughly chopped; source specifies 3–4)
• 1 medium yellow onion (roughly chopped)
• 5 garlic cloves (source specifies 4–6)
• 1 tsp ginger paste (or more, to taste)
• fresh thyme (amount unspecified)
• fresh rosemary (amount unspecified)
• turmeric (for color; amount unspecified)
• 1 block Parmesan cheese (fresh; optional rind for simmering; amount/weight unspecified)
• pastina (stelline pasta) (amount unspecified; boil separately)
• 4 tbsp butter (or more)
• lemon juice (a huge squeeze, or more)
• salt (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)
• 2 egg yolks (source specifies 1–3, depending on how much pasta you make)

Steps

1. 1

   Roughly chop the carrots, celery, and onion. If using the optional Parmesan rind, cut it from the block.

2. 2

   Put the chopped vegetables in a soup pot. Add the garlic cloves, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, ginger paste, salt, turmeric, and the Parmesan rind if using.

3. 3

   Pour in the chicken stock to cover the ingredients.

4. 4

   Bring the pot to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are soft; the source gives no simmering time.

5. 5

   Remove the fresh herbs and Parmesan rind, if used. Strain out the remaining vegetables, reserving the broth.

6. 6

   Transfer the vegetables to a blender with a little of the reserved broth and blend until smooth.

7. 7

   Return the blended vegetables to the pot and stir them into the remaining broth until evenly combined.

8. 8

   In a separate pot, boil the pastina according to its package directions, then drain it. The source does not give an amount of pasta or cooking time.

9. 9

   While the pastina is hot, add the butter, salt, black pepper, fresh Parmesan, and egg yolk or yolks; stir to combine. Adjust the seasoning and quantities to taste.

10. 10

    To serve, spoon the buttery pastina into bowls and ladle the blended vegetable soup over it.

11. 11

    Finish with a generous squeeze of lemon juice and more Parmesan, then serve.

Notes

The source does not specify quantities for the pastina, Parmesan by weight, herbs, turmeric, or lemon, nor a simmer time. It says to add fresh Parmesan to the pastina and finish with more Parmesan; the single listed block is used for both. The spoken transcript calls the pasta 'pastina' despite a speech-recognition error elsewhere.

Nutrition per serving

• soup
• main
• Italian
• cozy
• vegetarian option unavailable
• stovetop
• comfort food