Alison Roman’s Spicy Pork Soup with Pasta and Parmesan
Alison Roman’s easy yet comforting pasta soup with pork mince will warm the soul this winter. It uses simple ingredients but is brimming with rich, salty, garlicky flavours. Substitute the pork mince for turkey if you’d prefer.
Introduction
This soup is salty and porky, cheesy and garlicky. There are little whimsical bits of pasta floating about, soaking up all that salty, porky, cheesy, garlicky broth. It’s what I’d call an undeniable ‘crowd-pleaser’. There is also cime di rapa, a vegetable I’ve come to learn is shockingly divisive (shocking to me, as it’s a personal top five). So here’s what I’ll say: The cime di rapa is important here. It has a unique ability to be everything at once: delicate and sturdy, bitter and sweet. Simmering it in the fatty, seasoned broth mimics the effect of blanching, which mellows out the bitterness some people find so off-putting, so I’d love for you to take a leap of faith even if you don’t think you like it. If you REALLY hate it, okay, use kale.
Ingredients
| 1 tbsp | olive oil, plus more for drizzling |
| 450 g (1 lb) | minced (ground) pork or turkey |
| kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper | |
| 4 | garlic cloves, thinly sliced |
| 1 tbsp | fennel seeds |
| ½ tsp | chilli flakes, plus more to taste |
| 1.4 litres (48 fl oz/6 cups) | chicken or vegetable stock (or water plus Better Than Bouillon) |
| 175–225 g (6–8 oz) | dried pasta (a short, tube-y noodle or something fun like radiatori) |
| 1 bunch | cime di rapa or kale, thick stems removed, chopped |
| Parmesan or pecorino cheese, for grating or shaving (lots of it) | |
| 1 | lemon, halved for squeezing (optional) |
Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over a medium-high heat. Add the pork and season with salt and pepper. Cook, resisting the urge to break it up too much at first. As it browns, break it up into small pieces; some of the pork will get very small (these bits will get very brown and crispy), and some will stay larger, in sausage-like clumps (these will be tender and juicier). Once the pork is about 80 per cent browned to your liking, 8–10 minutes, add the garlic. Continue cooking until the pork is well browned throughout and the garlic is softened and starting to brown around the edges, another 4–5 minutes.
Add the fennel seeds and chilli flakes. Give them a stir to toast in the pork fat, cooking for a minute or two. Add the stock, season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a medium pot of salted water until just before al dente. (It’ll continue to cook in the soup, but it’s good to give it a head start. I don’t love cooking raw pasta in a brothy soup – it makes the broth too starchy and cloudy.)
Once the soup has simmered for a few minutes, add the cime di rapa and the pasta, stirring to wilt the cime di rapa. Simmer until the rabe is tender and the flavours have mingled appropriately, another 5–8 minutes or so. Season with salt, pepper and more chilli flakes if you like.
To serve, ladle into bowls and top with a drizzle of olive oil and tons of cheese. Sometimes I squeeze lemon over, but not always (doesn’t need it, but it can be nice).
Notes: In place of the pork, you can use fresh sausage (hot Italian, turkey, chicken), casing removed, leaving out the fennel seed and chilli flakes.
Do ahead: Soup can be made 3 days ahead. Keep the noodles separate to prevent soggy pasta.
Reviews
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