Sicilian Style Chicken Pastina Soup

My mom used to make Chicken Soup for us a lot growing up. Although she was the Sicilian side to our Jewish/Italian mix, she had a flare – and a passion – for cooking all kinds of ethnic foods. I think she tried to accomodate my Jewish Dad’s desire for some old-fashioned Hebrew cooking, which probably includes the stereotypical Chicken Soup (for the soul, and for when you’re sick, of course). Anyway, my brother and I were at the Sunnyvale Farmer’s Market this morning, and although he’s a way better cook than me – and makes a lot more dishes – he shared (confessed) that he had never made Chicken Soup. I told him to go check out my blog, because I happened to make it a couple days ago, but just hadn’t posted it yet. By the way, this version has a more Italian spin than other recipies you may find. For example, it has parmesan cheese, escarole and pasta…Well here it is. Please let me know how you like it!

Sicilian Style Pastina Soup

4-5 chicken breast (bone-in)
1/2 lb pastina (or any small type of pasta). You can also substitute with rice.
2 big carrots
3-4 sticks of celery
1 cup of fresh escarole (cleaned and cut up in large pieces). You can actually add any green veggie you like if you can’t find escarole, e.g., cabbage, mustard, swiss chard, etc
1/4 c (or more) or fresh, chopped parsley
1 large onion (or 2 medium)
about 3 whole, peeled tomatoes (preferable imported, italian)
1/4 c or more of freshly ground parmesan cheese (it’s OK if it’s not freshly ground – it’s just so much better in my opinion)
1 tbls dried basil
1 tsp oregano
kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
*optional, 1 lemon

• In large pot, boil chicken in 2 quarts of water. Make sure to skim the foam that rises to the top of the broth. I usually add salt and an extra onion to flavor the broth. This should take about 45 minutes to an hour so that the chicken can easily be removed from the bone.
• In separate pot, prepare pastina (according to package directions), drain, and set aside with a little butter tossed in it so that it doesn’t stick together.
• Remove the chicken from the broth and let cool. Now you can tear the meat off the bone so that it’s chunky.
• Bring the broth back to boil and add carrots. After about five minutes add the remaining veggies and spices and let simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Mash or cut up the tomatoes. If you don’t want to do this, you can always used about 1/2 c of crushed tomatoes. I just prefer the whole tomatoes so that the tomatoes aren’t as blended. As a matter of fact, my favorite kind of tomatoes for the soup are the canned, Italian Cherry, but I don’t find them everywhere.
• Now it’s ready to eat. It’s important how you serve it, so you may want to pay attention to the next step.
• Per serving bowl: Place about 1/2 c of pasta on bottom of soup dish. Then spoon out the chicken, veggies etc so that it’s not such a random pick. You want to make sure that there’s the right amount of veggies, chicken, etc.
• Now add the broth and top with grated cheese, parley and ground pepper. *If you want, you can add a squeeze of lemon or lime too (before the cheese) for a special little twist on the flavor.

Serving Suggestion: Serve piping hot with some very good artisan bread (or French or Italian of course). It’s great just on it’s own on a cold night or when you’re feeling under the weather. It’ll definitely make you feel better!