Pastina per Brodo

This very soothing dish is mostly to be found in private homes rather than in restaurants. It is also more a part of life in Northern Italy, where it forms part of supper, accompanied perhaps by some cheese and bread. The brodo (broth) can be of chicken, veal, beef, or other meats cooked for some time with some onion, celery and carrot. In this stock are cooked the following types of pasta, which have been specifically designed to cook in a short time: anellini (little rings), avemarie and tubettini (short tubes), conchigliette (small shells), cuoricini (tiny hearts), diavolini (little devils), farfalline (baby butterflies) grandine (hailstones), lumachine (small snails), pepe (peppercorns), pepe bucato (peppercorns with a hole), perline (pearls), puntine (points), quadrettini (squares), stelline (stars), as well as seme d’avena (oat grains), d’orzo (barley), di riso (rice), di mele (apple seed), di melone (melon seeds) and di peperone (pepper seeds) and many, many others. See also Alfabeto.