Sunday, March 27, 2011

Soupy Feel Better Pasta

Good for fending off a cold or seasonal stuffiness. Serves 2.

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, sliced
one third of a medium onion, diced (small)
one medium tomato, diced (small)
Half a pound of elbow pasta
4-6 cups of broth (depending on desired soupiness level)
Lots of dried basil, black pepper, and garlic
Splash of lemon juice
Some grated Pecorino Romano cheese (if you're feeling sassy)

I prefer to make my broth with Knorr's vegetarian vegetable bullion, but any broth that suits you is fine. Put your broth into a medium pot and bring to a boil. While it is heating, chop up your garlic and onion. Throw half of that into the pot with the broth. The rest is going to go in at the end, raw, which is both great for you and delicious. But if you totally can't deal with raw onions and garlic, I guess you better put it all in now.

Also, splash in your splash of lemon juice and shake your spices in. A few generous shakes of both black pepper and garlic and a shake or two of dried basil -- that's the ticket. If you have fresh basil, yum, lucky you. You may want to slice or tear it up to release the flavor and you can put it in now or wait until the end.

When the broth is boiling, put in your pasta and cook it the same length of time you'd usually cook pasta. Test an elbow now and then to see when it's ready; you don't want to overcook them.

Don't drain, just serve! Garnish with your diced tomatoes and, if you're feeling sassy, some pecorino romano cheese.