Sunday Dinner: Pastina with vegetables

Make Sunday dinner fun with your food! This recipe for pastina with vegetables brings the stars to the table — great fun and great flavor — for kids and adults.

Pastina, or “little pasta,” is a small, star-shaped pasta, and when we say small, we mean small! Pastina is a common, Italian childhood dish (I ate my fair share growing up). Not only is it fun to sit down to a bowl of tiny stars, but it’s such a tasty dish that you can “beef up” to serve to adults, too. There are many ways you can serve pastina, but this recipe was inspired from the cookbook, Weeknights with Giada, by Giada De Laurentiis.

I used 6 ounces of pastina and 6 ounces of orzo pasta in this recipe. You can use either all pastina, or split it like we did and use any type of small pasta.

Pastina with vegetables recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• 1-1/2 cups frozen peas
• 6 ounces pastina
• 6 ounces small-sized pasta like orzo
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to sprinkle on individual servings

Directions:

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions, or until al dente. Drain, place in a bowl and set aside.
2. In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil, then add the onion and cook for about 4 minutes, then add the carrot and celery. Cook until the onion softens, just a few minutes longer.
3. Add the broth to the vegetables, bring to a boil, then allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the peas to the mixture and cook for about a minute longer.
5. Toss in the 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, season with the salt and pepper, and mix well.
6. Add the pasta to the broth and mix well.
7. Serve in individual bowls and sprinkle each with a bit more Parmesan cheese.

The stars come out for Sunday Dinner!

More Sunday Dinner recipes

Lentil soup with vegetables and pasta
Bacon and egg pizza
Chicken chili nachos