Pastina

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs "Proud Italian Cook" it is a Michael Chiarello recipe and looked very fallish and like a perfect comfort meal. According to the Proud Italian "In many Italian households children are first introduced to pasta by way of pastina. Pastina literally means "little pasta". Today you can find shapes of many different forms, from tiny dots to stars, alphabets, and many more." I finally made this dish a couple of weeks ago. While it did not seem as Fall anymore since we were in full Christmas mode, I wanted to try it before next year. My camera is not the best so I will show you one of her pictures and you will see why I wanted to make this dish.

From "The Proud Italian Cook"

Scoop out the pumpkins for baking

For the butternut squash, cut off the top and scoop out the seeds, oil it inside and out, salt and pepper, and place it cut side down on baking sheet.

Both will cook at 375F for about 40 min's. You want your pumpkin still firm enough to stand.
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Saute your onions and thyme

I used vegetable broth

These were the smallest noodles I could find

The finished product

FOR THE PASTINA:

In a pot, saute about 1 cup of onion in olive oil season with salt and pepper and fresh thyme.

Pour in 4 cups of stock (I used chicken) and bring to a gentle boil.

When stock is boiling pour in 3/4lb. of your dry pastina or any small pasta.

When al dente, fold in about 1 cup of your roasted butternut squash that has been scooped out, and 1/2 cup of good Parmesan cheese. Season it to taste with salt and pepper.

The consistency should be loose, so you might want to add more stock to it, so have extra on hand.


* I will admit this was not my favorite dish I have ever prepared. But that could be due to the fact that I got a migraine the next day. It was very easy and if you like pumpkin or butternut squash I would suggest giving this a try on a cold day or night! Enjoy!