Pastina

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200° F and place some heatproof cereal or pasta bowls in the oven to warm.
2. Cut the butter into 2 or 3 pieces and drop them into a large heatproof bowl. Set aside.
3. Bring about 2½ quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan over a high heat. If the water comes more than two-thirds of the way up the sides of the saucepan, pour some of it out.
4. When the water comes to a boil, add the two teaspoons of kosher salt and the pastina. Stir with a metal cooking spoon. Turn down the heat to medium-low. Set a timer for 4½ minutes. [If, at any time, it looks like the pastina is about to boil over, quickly plunge the cooking spoon back into the pot and leave it there. This will lower the temperature of the water and should prevent the pot from boiling over.]
5. While the pastina is cooking, put a large fine metal sieve inside a colander in the sink. (The colander holds the sieve steady so you don’t have to hold it over the sink while draining the cooked pasta.)
6. When the timer goes off, pour the pastina into the sieve. While it is still hot, transfer the drained pastina into the bowl with the butter, and stir until the butter melts and is distributed more or less evenly throughout.
7. Stir in the milk. The pastina will absorb some of the liquid. Season with additional kosher salt to taste.
8. Serve in the warmed bowls.
9. Note: Real, honest-to-goodness egg pastina is nearly impossible to find these days. I used to use Ronzoni pastina, but I don’t anymore; they seem to have changed the thickness of the pasta, and now it’s too heavy. Try the dry pastina made by Barilla. It’s made of semolina and durum wheat flours (no eggs), but it’s readily available in the pasta aisle of most supermarkets, and it does the trick.