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What's For Dinner? 19.29 Winter Cooking 2: Pastina [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-18

We’re in the middle of winter, it’s BUTT COLD here in Chicagoland, it’s flu season, and everyone’s minds are turned to thoughts of soups that warm you up from the inside. And the quintessential winter soup is chicken soup. Chicken soup has been made for millennia—there’s records of chicken soup going back 3000 years—and for just as long, it has been regarded as a panacea for all those winter ailments. But what kind of chicken soup? Regular chicken noodle? Matzah? Those are the most known to us in the US, but EVERY culture has its own recipe with its own flavors. But today let’s talk about the soup Italian nonas give their grandkids—pastina.

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So I hit the Google machine with “history of pastina” and their AI gave me this response:

Pastina has a long history in Italian cuisine, and is a versatile ingredient that's been used in many ways: Origins Pastina has been a part of Italian cuisine since the Roman Empire. It became popular because it cooks quickly and is versatile.

Childhood food Pastina is a favorite pasta for children in Italy, and is often given to them as their first solid food.

Comfort food Pastina is a comforting dish for children when they're sick, and for Italian-Americans during cold and flu season. Versatile Pastina can be used in soups, salads, and dishes that usually use rice, like pilaf. It can also be made with other shapes, like Israeli couscous or orzo. Social media Pastina became trendy after thousands of recipes went viral on TikTok and Instagram in summer 2022. Pastina shapes The term "pastina" refers to any small pasta, and there's no standard shape. Pastina can be shaped like stars, tubes, macaroni noodles, or shells. Orzo is also often considered a type of pastina. Affordable Pastina is inexpensive and can be made with broth, making it a satisfying dish during tough times.

So to recap:

Pastina is a STYLE of pasta, not a shape. It’s just a tiny pasta. Heck, even Israeli couscous is a type of pastina. Here’s a video talking about this very subject:

So the pastina I chose for this first go at a recipe was DeCecco’s Acini de Pepe. It translates to roughly “peppercorns”. It’s a cylinder shaped pastina slightly smaller than your typical Israeli couscous.

I decided to make pastina after watching this Chef John video:

So, I had a bunch of beef neck bones, a couple of oxtails, and some prime rib bones I cut off a roast in my freezer. I decided to take those bones, and maybe some veggies, and do a beef pastina. And because I need protein, I make sure to add meat to the pastina.

Hold on, hold on. You just spent the whole into talking about chicken soup and now you’re doing BEEF? Well, yeah. To make pastina, you need good broth to cook it in, and I had all these bones in my freezer, and this recipe gave me a reason to use them to make hella good broth and also to make some room in my freezer.

And even if it’s not based on chicken soup, you’re getting the same, if not more, of the healthful benefits of chicken soup using a good beef broth. But don’t worry, you’ll see some traditional chicken pastina as well.

So here’s what I did.

First, the night before, I took my bones, along with carrots, and onions and gave them a dose of broil. Why are the carrots whole? Cause I didn’t feel like cutting them.

In this picture—one GINORMOUS oxtail (center left. Yes, that’s just one), One regular sized oxtail, two baby oxtails, two prime rib bones (very meaty), and like 5 or 6 very meaty neck bones

Then into the slow cooker they went with some chicken stock.

After many many hours, I carefully pulled the bones out, trying not to let big hunks of meat fall off into the broth. I also pulled the carrots and onions. I shredded the beef, and chopped up the veggies. Meanwhile I added the pasta.

Now most pastina uses butter emulsified in, but I didn’t need any. I mean did you see how much fat was on that one oxtail? And that was only one fatty bone I had out of many. Anyway, once the pastina was cooked, I added back in the shredded meat and chopped veggies. Then I added a bit of ricotta and a bunch of peccorino Romano.

half a cup of ricotta

All that cheese...

It was VERY beefy and unctuous, and sticky the way a good broth is. So flavorful, even absorbed by the pasta. Now for my list of things to correct. First, make sure to wash the bones before roasting. Or take more care in removing them from the pot and shredding the meat. Quite a few small bone fragments were found in my meals over the course of that week, and that diminished my satisfaction cause bones are not good eats. Also, I did not do a good enough job chopping the onions after they came out of the slow cooker. Some of the pieces were quite large, and I wound up not liking their particular texture. Next time if I use onion, I’ll either chop it fine beforehand or purchase pre diced onion. The carrots did well, though, and I was able to cut them how I like them.

But I’m making this again. This time I’ll use chicken thighs. I’ll also do the pre diced onion. I may also go full traditional and add a couple beaten eggs in at the end.

PART DEUX, PASTINA BOOGALOO

So I did it. I did a chicken pastina using the advice I had given myself which you can read above.

So the night before, I put some onions and celery (diced super finely that I bought at the store) in my slow cooker and sprinkled a little—just a tiny bit--Knorr’s chicken bouillon on top. Then I added chicken thighs and water. The next photo after that is what it looked like 13 hours later.

When they went in

Look at how golden that broth is! That’s over 13 hours in the slow cooker.

I let it go for about three more hours and took the chicken out to cool. I added some salt and pepper, then I added the noodles. This time I used La Moderna brand stars.

Notice how all that yummy broth is absorbed by the tiny pasta

You can see some bits of chicken that were left after removing from the slow cooker because there were a couple of thighs that kind of broke down and fell apart as I was trying to pull them out. But after the pastina was cooked, I put the chicken back in and added the cheese.

Speaking of the cheese, Bel Gioso makes a “fresh grated” parmesan that has NO starches or cellulose or anything to prevent clumping like most store bought grated or shredded cheese has. The ingredients are just milk, cultures, salt, and enzymes. Plus it’s a pretty good American made parmesan. And it’s WAY cheaper and easier than grating a wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano. Anyway, I mixed a whole lot into what had become pretty much a wet bowl of noodles.

Smooth and creamy.

I did a final seasoning with pepper, and it was stupendously good. I did not add egg like may Italians do for a couple reasons. First, almost all the liquid got absorbed by the noodles so everything was a perfect consistency. Second, I make meals to last me a whole week, and reheating something with egg can cause the egg to scramble. I decided to put butter in each meal as it was reheating. That way I had the perfect amount of butter (for me) in every meal.

So I’m definitely doing the chicken version again and again. In fact, by the time this diary is published, I’ll have done another one using turkey wings (fresh), and some smoked turkey tail.

PASTINA 3: POULTRY DRIFT

This was my best batch yet. I used about 3 pounds of turkey wing drumettes, and like a pound of smoked turkey tails. Here’s when I started, and the stock like 12 hours later.

I know, right? That broth was so rich and yummy. And it had nothing to do with the little bit of Knorr’s chicken bouillon and MSG I mixed in with the onions before the meat and water went in. But anyway, the finished product, including the putting back all that turkey meat and the Parmesan:

I was eating good that week, let me tell you.

So what’s happening WFD wise this weekend? Welp, last week I made Italian Beef. (That’s gonna be my February diary) I had a nice bunch of leftover meat after making my teeny sammiches. So I’m experimenting. I’m taking that beef, some shaved steak, cream cheese, regular cheese, and other stuff, and making it into a rice based casserole. Stay tuned in the comments for how it turned out. I have high hopes.

Meanwhile, what are some of your “go to” warming winter recipes facing a Polar Vortex? Extra points for maximum comfort and keeping warm no matter how cold.

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