Nonna’s Pastina Re-invented
Growing-up Italian means eating pastina first. My children and I and everyone in my family before me ate pastina as one of our first foods. We ate it in chicken broth, olive oil, butter etc. Which ever way we prepare it, we sprinkle it with lots of cheese. Nonna’s Pastina Re-invented came about when I had extra kale in the kitchen. I wanted to make a healthier and heartier dish with memories of the past.
Nonna’s Pastina Re-invented is a twist on two favourites. My nonno Salvatore loved egg drop soup and we all loved the tiny meatball soup. The truth is that I made canelloni and have leftover stuffing. I added frozen kale to my leftover meatball mixture and then dropped the tiny meatballs into chicken broth. I cooked some pastina and then added that. At the last-minute, I whisked up some eggs and dropped them in.
My husband is not really a soup eater, but he licked the bowl with this recipe. Nonna’s Pastina Re-invented will satisfy the pickiest eaters while being a wholesome and healthy dish. Bring it to the table as a main. Your family will want extra bowls of this!!
I took my basic meatball recipe and I added some frozen Kale.
I drop the meatballs into some chicken stock. After about 5 minutes I add my cooked pastina or you can add the raw pastina directly into the pot.
I add the egg to the soup
[videopress hNtZsa0t]
This soup is the best!!
I could eat many bowls of this soup.
Nonna's Pastina Re-invented
The best soup ever!!
Ingredients
- 2 cups prepared meatball mixture see recipe notes for link
- 1/2 cup frozen kale defrosted
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 large eggs
- 1 onion whole
- 1 clove garlic whole
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup pastina I used Hungarian noodles
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
-
In a large pot place the broth, onion and garlic.
Add the salt and black pepper.
Let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Make your meatballs.
Defrost and drain the kale. Wring it out so that most of the water comes out.
Add the kale to the meatball mixture. Mix and make meatballs using 1 tsp of the mixture.
Roll the meatballs and place on a plate.
Remove the garlic and the onion from the broth.
Add the meatballs one at a time and and simmer on medium/low for 10 minutes.
The pot should still have a slow rolling boil.
In another pot cook your pastina for about 5 minutes.
Drain and add the pastina to the pot.
Beat the eggs and slowly stream them in. (Watch my video)
As soon as the eggs float to the top turn off the heat.
Sprinkle in the parsley.
Ladle into bowls and dress with plenty of parmesan cheese.
Recipe Notes
For the Meatballs see https://recipesatmytable.com/italian-meatballs/
Any type of small pastina is great with this soup. If you like, you don't have to cook the pastina separately. You can add it in after the meatballs cook, which is about 5 minutes.
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