Italian Penicillin Soup

Italian penicillin soup is pure comfort, easy-to-make, and known to cure just about anything. Made with easy-to-find ingredients, this soup is thick and rich!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword chicken and pasta recipes, chicken soup recipes, Italian soup recipes

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1

Servings servings

Calories 301kcal

Author Kathleen

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 pound carrots small diced
1 cup onion small diced
1 large shallot, minced
4 stalks celery, small diced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh garlic , minced
8 cups, plus more as need low-sodium chicken broth
3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 sprigs fresh oregano
1 sprig rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 Parmesan rind optional
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
1 cup uncooked pastina or very small shaped pasta
3 cups cooked chicken, cut or shredded into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon lemon zest

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Add olive oil (2 tablespoons) to a large (6-8 quart) heavy bottom pot and heat, over medium heat, until it shimmers. Add carrots (1 pound), onion (1 cup), shallots, and celery (4 stalks), and sauté, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
Add garlic (1 1/2 tablespoons), and continue cooking, stirring often, digging down with your spoon to the bottom of the pan so the garlic doesn't burn.
Stir in the chicken broth (8 cups), thyme (3 sprigs), oregano (2 sprigs), rosemary (1 sprig), bay leaf (1), Parmesan rind (1), salt (1 teaspoon), and pepper (1/2 teaspoon). Bring mixture to a boil, immediately reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, until veggies are very tender, about 20-25 minutes.
Remove soup from heat. Using a long-handled slotted spoon remove and discard Parm rind, bay leaf, and stems of the herbs.
Using the slotted spoon, transfer about 2-3 cups of cooked vegetables from the broth and place in the jar of a blender. Add enough broth, from the soup, to process the vegetables in in the blender. Before processing, allow the vegetables and broth to cool from hot to warm. remove the center cap of the blender top and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Process until mixture is smooth then return mixture to soup pot.
Place the pot on medium heat and bring to a boil. Add pasta (1 cup) and return mixture to a rapid simmer, adjusting heat as necessary to maintain.
Stir in peas (1 cup), cooked chicken (3 cups), grated Parmesan (1/2 cup), and lemon zest (1 teaspoon). Adjust seasoning, as needed. Ladle into individual bowls and serve. Pass extra Parmesan alongside.

Notes

More Stock: When you first add the pasta to the soup, it will not seem like enough. Just wait. This soup has a good amount of pasta, in fact more than other recipes floating around on the internet. The pastina in this soup absorbs the chicken broth like crazy as it sits. The texture of the dish becomes more like a porridge than a soup very quickly. It eats deliciously either way! If you want it to be more soup like, just add more broth
More Veggies: This soup is delish with fresh spinach added to it. Add it when a few minutes after adding the pasta.
Fresh Or Dried Herbs: If you missed this note from above, feel free to sub out the fresh herbs for dried. I'd use dried Italian seasoning, which is a wonderful blend of just the right Italian herbs.
Olive Oil Drizzle: Traditionally, this is often served with a drizzle of olive oil on the top. Use your best if you drizzle.

Nutrition