Pastina with Egg and Cheese, Otherwise Known As Comfort Food
This simple recipe for pastina with egg and cheese, otherwise known as comfort food, will make everything feel a little better! Especially when eaten out of a Peter Rabbit bowl.
Jump to:
- ❤️ Why I love this recipe
- 🤔 What is pastina?
- 🧀 Ingredients you need
- Ingredient notes and substitutions 📝
- 💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
- 👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
- 🤔 Recipe FAQs
- 💕 Other comfort food recipes we love
- 🧐 We want to know what you think!
- Pastina with Egg and Cheese, Otherwise Known As Comfort Food
❤️ Why I love this recipe
I love the general category of comfort food.
As in poached eggs on buttered toast. Cream of Wheat. Scrambled eggs with little dollops of ricotta cheese.
Sometimes a warm bowl of comfort food is the only thing that will do when you are feeling blue, or tired, or overwhelmed by the busy-ness of it all.
Or maybe you just want to be 5 years old again, for a few minutes. Anyway, I have my little repertoire of meals that fall into this category, and I was delighted to remember this one in this book I just finished reading.
The book is called I Loved, I Lost, I Ate Spaghetti by Guilia Melucci. For all of you who read Eat Pray Love it is basically the same type of book, only this time the eat and the love parts are combined.
And scattered throughout this book are Guila’s various recipes for this that and the other thing, mainly Italian dishes.
And that is what this recipe is based on. Tiny pasta swirled with a little butter, cheese and an egg. It’s comfort food perfection that is ready in 15 minutes.
🤔 What is pastina?
Pastina is the tiniest pasta there is – it is little tiny dots of pasta that cook up quickly, and because of its tiny size it tends to be a little softer than most pasta.
Perfect with butter…and even better with the other ingredients in this recipe!
🧀 Ingredients you need
The basic components are pretty simple: water, pastina, egg, butter, cheese, salt and pepper. It cooks up in about 5 minutes start to finish, and turns into a creamy, slightly cheesy concoction that needs to be eaten with a spoon.
Ingredient notes and substitutions 📝
- Pastina: And if you can’t find pastina, go for the tiniest pasta you can find. Little stars or even orzo.
- Egg: Any size egg will do.
- Butter: I like salted butter for this recipe, but unsalted will work too!
- Parmesan Cheese: Freshly grated if you can!
💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻
👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
STEP 1: Bring one cup of water to boil in small saucepan.
STEP 2: Add pastina and salt and cook until most of the water is absorbed, 3-4 minutes or whatever the instructions on your box suggest.
STEP 3: Turn off heat and stir in egg, letting it cook in the hot pasta.
STEP 4: Add a little butter, a little grated Parmesan cheese and a little salt and pepper. Eat slowly out of your favorite bowl with your favorite spoon.
🤔 Recipe FAQs
Pastina can be a tricky thing to track down! First check your grocery store in the pasta aisle. If you can’t find it there, you can order a good-sized supply of pastina here. And all my friends and loved ones know that I go through it so fast that whenever they see it, they pick me up a box…or six!
You can use whatever kind of cheese makes you feel the most comforted! Just make sure it is a melty kind (like American or finely shredded cheddar) that will mix up into your pastina.
Pop your question in the comments section below and I will get back to you pronto!
I ladled mine into my Peter Rabbit bowl, settled into my favorite chair, and immediately felt much better.
So if you are looking for a good book to read give I Loved, I Lost, I Ate Spaghetti a try…and the next time you need a little pick-me-up, cook up some of this pastina. Preferably served in a Peter Rabbit bowl.
💕 Other comfort food recipes we love
🧐 We want to know what you think!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section right below the recipe card.
Pastina with Egg and Cheese, Otherwise Known As Comfort Food
This simple recipe for pastina with egg and cheese, otherwise known as comfort food, will make everything feel a little better!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup pastina
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
- Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Bring one cup of water to boil in small saucepan.
- Add pastina and salt and cook until most of the water is absorbed, 3-4 minutes or whatever the instructions on your box suggest.
- Turn off heat and stir in egg, letting it cook in the hot pasta.
- Add butter, cheese and pepper. Eat slowly out of your favorite bowl with your favorite spoon.
- Feel much better.
Notes
Pastina: These teeny dots of pasta are always my favorite choice for this comfort food recipe, but if you can’t find pastina, any small pasta (stars, orzo, etc) will do in a pinch.
Egg: You will be able to see it, but the egg really will cook in the hot pasta – stir it around until you see it forming little bits of scrambled egg.
I doubled the recipe, so I could share it with my toddler. We used little star shaped pastina, which really tickled the girls fancy.
I used chicken broth instead of water. We didn’t have parm cheese, so I threw a handful of mozza in instead.
Oh my god this was SO GOOD! I’m addicted.
just like my grandma made for me … gonna make this right now!!!
– elizabeth
just like my grandma made for me … gonna make this right now!!!
– elizabeth
What is pastina and where can I buy it? I’m Polish
Pastina in Italian essentially means “tiny/little” pasta. I usually buy either the little star shaped Pastina or alphabet. There is also an even smaller one – acina de pepe, but for me it is too small! You could also use orzo but it’s thicker and takes longer to cook than the aforementioned.
Love this recipe. Better than when my mom and grandma made it for me growing up. The consistency is perfect when using the exact portions but when doubling I felt like it was too much water. Have you tried doubling? Maybe next time I will try again with double pasta but only 1.5x the water.
You know, I don’t think I have ever tried doubling it – I think your plan is a good one and I’m going to try it the next time I make this (because I can 100% eat a double serving of this!) :)
I loved this recipe! It was amazing! Except, I was really hungry so I doubled all the ingredients for a bigger serving! Thank you for posting this! My aunt makes this for me all the time when I’m sick but she never tells me the recipe! HA
I loved this recipe! It was amazing! Except, I was really hungry so I doubled all the ingredients for a bigger serving! Thank you for posting this! My aunt makes this for me all the time when I’m sick but she never tells me the recipe! HA
Yes! My Italian mother used to make this exact dish when we were kids and even makes it for the grandkids. For a slight twist she would sometimes boil the pastina in chicken broth. It was a Holly Hobby bowl for me though :) I better go stock up if it is being discontinued.
Hi Julie and yes! I am buying up all the pastina I can find. It’s just Ronzoni that is discontinuing it – hopefully Barilla will still keep it going! Fingers crossed.
My comfort food still and I’m in my 70’s!
HINT: I live alone and make a big batch – it reheats nicely in microwave!
Hi Virginia! I always make a big batch too – there’s no such thing as too much pastina, right? :)
Raggedy Ann! Love her. :)
Well I made this for the very first time tonight for my kids. Hallelujah… They absolutely loved it!!! I did make just a few minor adjustments. Instead of water for the pastina to cook in, I used chicken broth, and I did cook up some bacon and added that in too. To the eggs, I seasoned them with onion powder, seasoned salt, pepper, Mrs Dash, & lemon pepper powder. After frying up the bacon, I removed them and I sauteed some garlic in that bacon grease. YUM!!! I did drain the grease before adding it to the mixture. For cheese, I did pecorino romano and parmesan cheese. It was wonderful ty for this recipe ????
Teresa! Not only do I love that this recipe was a hit, I also love the adjustments you made to make it extra special – YUM is right! Thank you for your sweet note. :)
Raggedy Ann! Love her. :)
I love pastina! I make a similar dish I just pulled out of my own wearied neurons one night, with pastina, low-fat Kraft, a dash of milk, and salt/pepper. Oh so delicious, it’s surely an Italian salve for frazzled brain cells. BTW, I hav a Peter Rabbit bowl, too. Oh, and a Raggedy Ann one, as well.
I love pastina! I make a similar dish I just pulled out of my own wearied neurons one night, with pastina, low-fat Kraft, a dash of milk, and salt/pepper. Oh so delicious, it’s surely an Italian salve for frazzled brain cells. BTW, I hav a Peter Rabbit bowl, too. Oh, and a Raggedy Ann one, as well.
The directions to A T only doubled and 2 cups of water with a 1/2 a cup of pastina took for forever to boil down
Hi Mary! Hmm – the amount of pasta should not change the cooking time, so that’s unusual! But I hope it was worth the extra time. :)
It was almost 25min for 2C water and half cup pastina until it was all absorbed…but yes,still yummy
I’m glad it was worth the wait! :)
When adding an additional serving, keep water at 1 cup
Just double the amount of pastina.
Thanks Gerry! I haven’t ever tried this version – I do double the liquid – but will give it a whirl to see how it works.
Let me know how you like it! The second time I made it, I cut the pastina (and water) in half to let the egg play a bigger part in all of it — it was a little different but still SO great! By the way, I just love your blog. Your photography is spectacular, and someday I need to ask you how you get your pictures to display so nice and big on your blog…
Let me know how you like it! The second time I made it, I cut the pastina (and water) in half to let the egg play a bigger part in all of it — it was a little different but still SO great! By the way, I just love your blog. Your photography is spectacular, and someday I need to ask you how you get your pictures to display so nice and big on your blog…
Well I didn’t make this today as I said I would (b/c of lack of Pastina) but I seriously had a DREAM about this last night. I was frantically searching for Pastina. That means I definitely need to make this soon.
Well I didn’t make this today as I said I would (b/c of lack of Pastina) but I seriously had a DREAM about this last night. I was frantically searching for Pastina. That means I definitely need to make this soon.
OMG…I am going to make this TOMORROW!
OMG…I am going to make this TOMORROW!