Italian Potato-Pasta Soup With Greens Recipe (2024)

If you are Italian, escarole is the green of choice for this soup.

Adding a rind from parmesan or romano cheese adds a lot to the soup-grandmother used to make it and in her broken english called it "pasta padon". We always found it a welcome treat over the pasta fa*gioli, which we had once a week. The macaroni used was always ditali. And the green of choice was escarole (the green leaves, the tender ones went into the salad). We didn't know about kale in the last century!

Not to get fussy, but even in a soup I like my veggies to have texture, not mushy, and my pasta al dente. I would cook only the onion and fennel at the start (plus minced garlic), then add potatoes and carrots and stock, plus spices, to simmer until just shy of al dente, then finish with a handful or two of pasta. Kale cooked this way turns slimy; go with chard, escarole or spinach (last minute). The rosemary needs some time in the pot to soften.

You can add garbanzos instead of or as half of potato quantity for an even more diverse soup with more protein and less starch! I’d reduce the celery as it’s flavor can overpower.

As with any soup that includes pasta,I like to cook the pasta separately,to al dente,cool it down and store the pasta in a ziplock bag in the fridge. Then,when I either reheat soup or the first time being served,I place the pasta in the bottom of each bowl(sprinkle some parmesan on top) and pour the hot soup over. That way the soup does not thicken and the pasta does not turn to mush. Cheers!

My knees weakened as I read this. Just awe-struck, really. If you're a chef, you might as well tell us. Otherwise it's all vapor.

Canellini might be a good choice. And then you have paste e fa*gioli. Add a good handful of baby spinach and you have whatever you have, but it´s terrific.

Do not like cooked celery. Hubby dislikes fennel. So I cut up a parsnip and added some fresh spinach also. Came out fine

Used smoked paprika to add flavor - used the rest of the recommended items - tasty!

Did one teaspoon of paprika and one teaspoon of smoked paprika...delicious!

Similar to a recent recipe that I used. I added spinach rather than kale or chard. It is so good.

Great soup, actually made as the recipe indicates. I did you celery, rather than the fennel. A huge hit, with lots of leftovers. I am always curious as to why one would add a note to a NYT Cooking recipe when one did not use the recipe. Your point? If I am looking for comments, I am looking for a comment that pertains to the recipe. Make sense?

If you can find cranberry beans (aka borlotti) it would be delish!

Add Spinach for the green vegetable.

Very good. Added parmesan reggiano rind as soup cooked. Cut pasta in half, replaced with chickpeas. I used dark kale. Very tasty, easy, simple dish for a winter night.

Great hardy meal, will cook it again!

This was perfect on a chilly April evening. Filling, comfort ing and the flavors came together well in a short amount of time. Used smoked paprika and threw in some fresh basil leftover from another meal plus a few sprigs of thyme. Cooked a little ground Italian sausage on the side and put in at the end. Use a half box of Barilla’s Campanelle pasta and cut up small yellow potatoes. Looking forward to leftovers for lunches this week!

This recipe makes a massive amount of soup. I usually halve the recipe when I cook.

I made this last night. We all loved it! Great flavor. I didn't have celery or fennel so I used leeks instead. I used chard instead of kale and I cooked the pasta separately. I also doubled the recipe so I can freeze it (pasta can be added later then too).

Really delicious, hearty and soul-warming soup. Did not have a fresh fennel bulb or celery on hand, but we added fennel seed instead. Halved the recipe and it was still plenty for 2 people for dinner plus leftovers. Will definitely make again!

Wonderful wonderful Added spinach, 1 can beans, crumbled sweet sausage, Trader Joe’s lime and chili seasoning, rosemary sprig, parm rind

I doubled the spices & it still tasted like nothing. This was arguably the blandest thing I've ever cooked.

Came out pretty good, adding parmesan rind was a good addition.

I anticipated a dull, bland soup but I was wrong. This is great. Skipped the fennel and added zucchini. Increased the garlic and Parmesan.

Added fresh cream at the end, used mustard greens and dried chiles instead of kale and paprika respectively, and orchiette. Turned out creamy and with a slightly higher hit of spice. Really like this recipe.

This was delicious as is. Added a Parmesan rind which added flavour and heft. Used Penne which was substantial enough to not get flabby. Was generous with the paprika and all herbs. Would make again.

Halve the potatoes and pasta, add Parmesan rind, add canellini beans, use escarole, add red pepper flakes.

Halved the recipe. Then: halved pasta again, doubled veggies.

This was sooo good. I added in some green beans and increased the broth a bit as I ended up tossing in the whole box of pasta because I love super chunky soup. I also upped the tomato paste and added in some fresh sage- sublime flavor. I would add more kale/greens next time. This one is now a favorite in our house!

Why reflexively discard the greens' stems? Dice them and add them with the onion. Less waste in cooking.