Moving far beyond the alphabet soup of childhood, there is a range of delicious and elegant ways of integrating pasta into soup, for the ultimate in winter warmth. Here are some tips and ideas to get you started.
The lighter the soup, the smaller the pasta
Light, stock based soups such as this chicken, risoni and spinach soup, work best with smaller shaped pasta, to balance the meal. Shapes such as Risoni, Ditalini lisci, and Stelline (shaped like tiny stars) are perfect for broths.
If you are cooking a heartier soup such minestrone, consider using large sized pasta such as maccheroni, ditaloni rigati, or ditaloni lisci. As a general rule, dice your ingredients to the same size as the pasta you are using.
Don’t over-cook the pasta
There is little worse than mushy, over-cooked pasta in soup. To ensure you get it just right, make sure the soup is nearly cooked before adding the pasta.
Smaller pasta shapes soak up broth readily so ensure you serve the soup as soon as it’s cooked.
Alternatively, you could cook the pasta separately and add to the soup at the last moment. This will ensure the pasta and the soup are cooked perfectly. This also works well for re-heating the soup as the pasta can be added at the last minute, helping to keep it al dente.
Freezing
If you are planning on freezing the soup for eating later, only half-cook the pasta. This means that when you re-heat it the pasta will stay nice and firm, not mushy.
Delicious pasta soup recipes
