Name: Vegetable soup with pasta
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: Mixed vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, garlic, hot peppers, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, and celery; Water, about 4 cups per person; Extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons per person; Salt, about 1 teaspoon per person or to taste; Short pasta, such as pastina, ditalini, tubetti, or other small shapes; Parmesan cheese, grated, to finish

Cold-day food: vegetables, broth, a little short pasta, and Parmesan melting into the bowl.

This one is wonderfully practical: open the fridge, use the vegetables you have, and turn them into a warm soup. Carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, garlic, hot peppers, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, celery — any combination works. The point is not a fixed formula. The point is comfort.

Finish the broth with a small pasta shape and Parmesan. That is the move: the pasta makes the broth feel like a meal, and the cheese melts into the soup so the whole thing becomes warmer, rounder, and more satisfying.

No two pots need to be identical. Change the vegetables, change the pasta shape, and the soup becomes itself again.

Soluble fiber, carotenoids, allium compounds, and olive oil polyphenols in one bowl

A mixed vegetable soup is a simple way to combine soluble fiber, potassium, carotenoids, sulfur compounds from alliums and crucifers, and the polyphenols carried by extra-virgin olive oil. Cooking the pasta in the vegetable broth also keeps the starch and minerals in the pot instead of sending them down the drain.

Mixed vegetablescarrots, tomatoes, broccoli, onions, garlic, hot peppers, cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, celery — use what you have

Waterabout 4 cups per person

Extra-virgin olive oil2 tablespoons per person

Saltabout 1 teaspoon per person, or to taste

Short pastapastina, ditalini, tubetti, or any small shape

Parmesan cheesegrated, to finish

Bring water to a boil in a pot, using about 4 cups per person.

Add the olive oil, salt, and vegetables. Simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.

Lift out the vegetables and keep the broth.

Do not waste the vegetables. Eat them alongside the soup, or chop some and return them to the pot.

Add the short pasta to the broth and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes.

Small pasta overcooks quickly. Stop while it still has a little bite.

Questo piatto è vegano. The cheese is optional — the dish stands entirely on olive oil, vegetables, and pasta. Skip it and you have a completely plant-based meal.