Pasta Is a Pick-Me-up to Soups as Far as Kids Are Concerned by Lisa Messinger on Creators.com

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Pasta Is a Pick-Me-up to Soups as Far as Kids Are Concerned

There are plenty of books that advise how to trick kids into eating vegetables by hiding them in brownies or pureeing them into sweet shakes. Usually, no deceptions are necessary, though, when you add pasta to a soup containing them.

Unlike other combinations, kids and pasta do mix. Soup is fun to eat and prepare, so it makes it even more appealing.

That attraction doesn't only extend to children. Soup cooks get a real break from the drudgery of longer, more involved meals. Double or even triple duty is possible when preparing soup.

In the soup that follows, for instance, both the garlic-sauteed broccoli and pasta cook right in the same pot. It's the same with the virtual vegetable garden of mushrooms, celery, carrots, onions, sugar snap peas and parsley in the additional penne-filled soup below.

The addition of pasta is also a way to make scrumptious, sophisticated heirloom recipes more accessible to children. Cookbook author Giuliano Hazan did that with three-generation specialties of his famed family. (His mother is TV cooking star and best-selling cookbook author Marcella Hazan.) His soup chapter in "Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes" is filled with now kid-friendly recipes that "minus the pasta" have been drawing raves in his family for generations.

BROCCOLI SOUP WITH PASTA

2 medium cloves garlic

Salt, to taste

3 / 4 pound broccoli florets

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 large beef bouillon cube

6 ounces short tubular pasta or other dried small pasta shaped for soup, such as ditalini or small shells

Yields 4 servings.

Fill a pot with water that will accommodate the broccoli and place over high heat.

Peel and finely chop the garlic.

When the water is boiling, add 1 teaspoon salt and put in the broccoli. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes after the water comes back to a boil. Drain broccoli and set aside.

Put the garlic and olive oil in a 4- to 6-quart soup pot and place over medium-high heat. After the garlic begins to sizzle, add the cooked broccoli.

Season with pepper and lightly with salt. Saute for about 5 minutes after the water comes back to a boil. Stir periodically with a wooden spoon, suing it to mash the broccoli into small pieces.

When the broccoli has finished sauteing, add 4 cups water and the bouillon cube and raise the heat to high. When the water begins boiling, add the pasta and cook over medium heat until the pasta is al dente. Serve hot.

-"Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes" by Giuliano Hazan (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $27.50).

VEGETABLE GARDEN PASTA SOUP

3 tablespoons butter

4 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

1 cup sliced celery

1 cup shredded carrots (about 2 medium)

1 medium onion, chopped

3 tablespoons all purpose flour

6 cups store-bought or homemade chicken broth

1 1 / 2 cups half and half

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 1 / 2 pounds chicken tenders, cut into1 / 2-inch pieces

1 cup penne pasta

1 / 4 pound sugar snap peas, halved diagonally

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Yields 6 servings.

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add mushrooms, celery, carrots and onion. Cook until celery and onion are tender, about 5 minutes. Add flour and cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Gradually mix in chicken stock. Bring soup to simmer, stirring frequently. Add half and half and chopped parsley, and simmer 5 minutes. Add chicken tenders, and simmer until cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Cook penne pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta. Bring chicken soup to simmer. Mix in cooked pasta and sugar snap peas and simmer 2 minutes. Mix in lemon juice; season to taste with salt and pepper.

-epicurious.com

Photo courtesy of "Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta"

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "Cooks' Books" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.