Name: Pastina Soup (a Simple Italian Soup When the Pantry is Bare)
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 32 oz of water; 1 to 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil; (optional: 1 tsp vegetable or chicken bouillon); 2 stalks of celery, leave whole to remove, or chopped into pieces if you want to leave it in the soup; 1 large carrot, cut into pieces as desired; 2 shallots or 1 medium onion; salt, to taste; 2 Tbsp pastina of choice (acini di pepe, orzo, alphabet, etc., or you can break spaghetti into little pieces) (if you have no pasta see the recipes below); 1 egg

Pastina soup is a traditional Italian peasant dish (cucina povera) which truly almost makes something out of nothing. The most minimal ingredients come together to make a delicious soup both children and adults will love.

Do you ever have “nothing” to eat in your kitchen?

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You know, when you have a few ingredients, but it seems as if there’s not enough of anything to make an actual meal? Well, more of us are probably struggling for recipes to make something from “nothing” nowadays, so here’s a soup that my mother has dubbed, “quick soup”, for lack of another name.

The funny part is that it should probably be called “easy soup” as it’s super easy to make, but isn’t the quickest soup we make. Don’t get me wrong, it will be ready to eat in 20 to 30 minutes, depending on how you make it, but you honestly won’t need many ingredients.

My goddaughter, Delaney, who some of you will know if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, absolutely adores this soup (as do most children!) Want to entice them even more? Use alphabet pastina, if you can find it.

What is Pastina?

Pastina, in Italian, simply means “little pasta.” However, most times, it’s given that pastina is referring to the soup with little pasta in it, as well as the little pasta itself.

Recipe for Authentic Italian Style Chicken Soup with Stracciatella

Don’t worry if you don’t have any pastina as you can make your own, too! I’ll link to a recipe at the bottom of this post, but here is one my cousin, Ada, taught me how to make: grattini all uovo.

How to Make Pastina Soup

a family recipe by Christina Conte serves 4

Ingredients

32 oz of water
1 to 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
(optional: 1 tsp vegetable or chicken bouillon)
2 stalks of celery, leave whole to remove, or chopped into pieces if you want to leave it in the soup
1 large carrot, cut into pieces as desired
2 shallots or 1 medium onion
salt, to taste
2 Tbsp pastina of choice (acini di pepe, orzo, alphabet, etc., or you can break spaghetti into little pieces) (if you have no pasta see the recipes below)
1 egg

Make the broth.

Put the water, oil, bouillon (if using), celery, carrots, shallots or onion and salt into a pot and bring to a boil. If you have celery leaves, you can add those, too.

Add the pastina.

Lower the heat so that the soup simmers for about 15 to 20 minutes, then add the pastina. Cook until the pastina is ready then remove any of the ingredients you don’t want to serve, for example, stalks of celery and/or celery leaves.

Add the egg.

Break an egg into the pot and swirl with a fork until cooked.

Taste for salt and add if needed. Serve immediately.

For children, you can always pop an ice cube in their bowl. Not only does it make it safer for them not to get burnt, but they love watching it melt and it teaches them about the reaction of hot with cold.

Yield: 4 servings