caccio e pepe pastina

Last week I came back from a weekend trip sick, and low on groceries. Luckily, I always have a lot of pasta around and I had made a big batch of chicken stock a couple weeks prior. This dish carried me through. I love a traditional pastina made with chicken stock, egg, Parmesan, and olive oil, but when I make it for myself, I always find myself topping it with a pat of butter and Parmesan cheese. Here, I doubled down on the cheese, butter, and pepper and the result is the perfect quick, cozy meal.

Tools needed: a small pot and a microplane. If you don’t have a microplane, use the finest section of the box grater. I highly suggest grating your cheese by hand because it will incorporate into the pastina better than pre-shredded, which can have a waxy texture. If you that’s what you have access to, it’ll still work! I would suggest adding the cheese at the same time as the butter while the pastina is still in the pot and stirring until it’s fully incorporated. It’ll just take a little more stirring than microplane cheese.

Ingredients:

1 c pastina (I used orzo)

3 c chicken or vegetable stock

3 tbsp butter

pecorino romano, generously grated

Parmesan, generously grated

freshly cracked black pepper

salt to season

Step 1:

Bring your stock to a boil over medium heat. Season with a pinch of salt and pour in your pastina. Begin stirring to ensure that the pastina doesn’t clump and stick to the bottom of the pot.

Step 2:

Return to a simmer and stir frequently until the pastina absorbs most of the liquid and is no longer crunchy. This will take about 20 minutes.

Step 3:

Turn off heat and add in the butter and stir until emulsified. It’s helpful to cut the butter into small cubes or individual tablespoons instead of adding as one large chunk, to aid faster melting. The consistency should be creamy from the pasta starch and butter. Check for seasoning.

Step 4:

Plate in a shallow bowl (this allows for a higher cheese to pasta ratio) and top with copious amounts of grated Parmesan and Pecorino Romano. If you have a microplane, I highly suggest you use that here because it will give you the most finely grated cheese that easily incorporates into the pastina. If you only have access to pre-shredded cheese (which can be courser) I suggest adding a couple of healthy pinches into the pastina at the same time as the butter and stir until fully melted.