Mediterranean Broccoli soup

 This very basic soup comes from the culinary traditions of the town of Comiso which happens to be my hometown. This is purely simple Mediterranean food,  where not many ingredients are needed, just a cold winter day, fresh broccoli florets, pasta, salt, extra virgin olive oil.

I use spring water to make my soups. Bring the water to a boil and add your cleaned and cut up broccoli. Add sea salt to taste. Let it cook at a medium flame until the broccoli have softened up, about 30-40 minutes. At this point I mash them still in the pot with a potato masher. Add more water if needed, and bring again to a boil, add the pasta, any kind of pasta for soup will do. However it is a must that you use high quality pasta, 100% durum wheat semolina. Make sure to do a quality check :) to see that the soup has enough salt, the salt will heighten the broccoli flavor.

When your pasta is cooked, of course not overcooked but al dente :), fill your bowls and drizzle with extra Virgin olive oil, I always add good Caciocavallo cheese, but this type of cheese is hard to find in the USA, maybe more available on the east coast. If you don't have caciocavallo you can use pecorino or Romano, enjoy!