Pastina soup ("Italian penicillin")

Photo: Pinch of Yum

The internet calls it Italian penicillin. Tiny star pasta in a blended vegetable broth, Parmesan on top. It's what you make when someone in the house is sick, or sad, or both.

From Lindsay Ostrom at Pinch of Yum · @pinchofyum

Vegetables simmered in broth and blended smooth, then tiny star pasta cooked right in it. Parmesan on top.

You need

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 large carrots, in big chunks
• 2 celery stalks, in big chunks
• 1/2 yellow onion, in big chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, smashed
• 10 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups pastina (stelline or other tiny pasta)
• Freshly grated Parmesan, to serve

How to make it

1. Warm the olive oil in a big pot over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.
2. Add the broth and salt, bring to a boil, then simmer until the vegetables are completely soft, about 20 minutes.
3. Blend the soup until smooth with a stick blender (or in batches in a blender, venting the lid).
4. Bring the soup back to a simmer, add the pastina and cook, stirring often so it doesn't stick, until tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
5. Taste for salt. Ladle into bowls with lots of Parmesan. The pasta keeps drinking broth, so thin leftovers with a little more broth.

Written in our own words from Lindsay Ostrom's recipe, with their quantities. The original: Pastina soup ("Italian penicillin"), Pinch of Yum.

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