Italian Green Soup (Minestra Verde) With Pastina Recipe
Prep Time:
5 minutes
Cook Time:
1 hour, 20 minutes
Servings:
8 Servings
Ingredients
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
  • 1 leek, roughly chopped
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
  • 4 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 large potato, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 ¾ cup frozen peas, thawed
  • 1 medium zucchini, roughly chopped
  • ½ bunch parsley, roughly chopped
  • 1 packed cup roughly chopped kale
  • 1 packed cup roughly chopped turnip greens
  • 5 ounces roughly chopped spinach or whole baby spinach
  • 4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 10 ounces pastina such as orzo or another very small pasta shape
Directions
  1. Heat the oil in a large stockpot on medium heat.
  2. Place the leek, onion, celery, carrots, potato, peas, and zucchini in the pot and saute them in the oil, stirring occasionally so they don't stick, for 5-6 minutes.
  3. Add the parsley, kale, turnip greens, and spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until they begin to wilt. You may need to add them a little at a time depending on the size of your pot.
  4. Pour in 2 quarts of water to just cover the vegetables.
  5. Add salt and pepper and raise the heat to high to bring the water to a boil.
  6. Lower the heat and let the soup simmer for 1 hour. Remove from the heat.
  7. Blend the soup with an immersion blender or blend it in batches in a blender and return it to the pot.
  8. Towards the end of soup-cooking time, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pastina to al dente according to the package directions.
  9. Drain the pastina and add it to the soup pot. Mix well.
  10. Serve the Italian green soup with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and grated pecorino cheese.