How To Make Pasta for Infants and Toddlers (Pastina)
Pastina is to Italy what chicken noodle soup and/or matzo ball soup is to America: a cure-all when sick, comfort food for all other times and all other people, including infants. It’s not soup but also not quite pasta; it’s more like grits or polenta, really, just without the coarse texture. It's pasta as porridge—and a blank template on/with which you can do whatever you want. For us, that’s combining the texture of pastina with the flavors of broccoli cheddar soup, for which you can use leftovers from our recipe or just a can of the premade stuff already in your pantry; you can also leave the broccoli cheddar out and go classic, with just some cheese and pepper (see Adapt section).
Know before you go: pastina is the name for this dish but also refers to the general category of teeny tiny pasta shapes used to make it (and other Italian soups). That includes likely-familiar shapes to you, such as orzo and ditalini, but also many others that you might not know, such as stelline; we used acini de Pepe in the version in the photos for this recipe, which looks more like pearl couscous than, you know, pasta. The shape is irrelevant to the texture of the dish, which is all in the process by which you cook it; that said, if you want it to look more like polenta or grits than rice or noodles, seek out pasta identified as Pastina, which Barilla and others do make.
- 16 oz chicken broth (i.e., two cups; or stock)
- 1/3 cup of Dried Broccoli Cheddar Soup Mix (or any dried base, for that matter)
- 1/2 cup Pastina pasta (acini or pastina preferred; orzo or ditalini totally fine)
- 1 tbsp Butter (note: keep in fridge until ready to use)
- 1 large Egg
- Grated Parmesan (any grated cheese will work here)
- Milk (optional; see directions)
- Black Pepper (optional; to taste)
- 10 oz Broccoli Cheddar Soup (can also use a can of condensed
- 6 oz Chicken broth (or stock)
- 1/2 cup Pastina pasta (acini or pastina preferred; orzo or ditalini totally fine)
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 large Egg
- Grated Parmesan (any grated cheese will work here)
- Milk (optional; see directions)
- Black Pepper (optional; to taste)
- Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk until completely combined.
- In a small or medium saucepan, bring the broth/stock and soup base (if using a liquid base) to a boil. If using a dry base, add in once the broth begins to boil.
- Pour in pastina and reduce boil to a simmer by turning heat to a bit below Medium Low. Cook, stirring frequently, until the liquid in the pot is at level with the pasta, roughly 5-6 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Add in the butter and stir until melted/blended in with the pasta.
- Add in as much cheese as you desire and stir until blended in with the pasta.
- Add in the egg and stir until blended in with the pasta.
- If dry when finished mixing, or if it has been sitting for a while, add a splash or milk or two and stir to make soft again.
Plate and present immediately: it can go gummy fast. Top with a spritz of lemon and a bit of pepper; you can also offer or go ahead and mix in a bit of tomato sauce if your child is accustomed to and/or prefers waiting pasta this way. An extra shot of cheese never hurt anything (or one), either.
If you don’t have broccoli cheddar soup and/or just don’t want that flavor involved here, just cook the pasta in 16 ounces of broth without any of those additions; the rest of the ingredients and process stay the same. If you’re the sort who needs/wants to stick veggies in everything, there’s an easy way to do it here: steam a heap of cauliflower and/or carrots until soft; allow to cool. Add to your blender with one cup of broth or water, and blend until smooth; add additional broth as needed for a thinner liquid. Cook the pasta in this liquid.