Molise
A simple but deeply flavoured Molisan soup using borage (borragine) — a wild herb with cucumber-like flavour used extensively in southern Italian mountain cooking — combined with mixed pasta shapes (pasta mista), potato, onion and finished with a spoonful of fresh ricotta. The borage turns vivid green in the soup and imparts a distinctive, clean herbal note.
Clean, herbal and cucumber-fresh from the borage; potato gives body; ricotta provides milky creaminess; pasta mista adds textural variety — a soup of refreshing simplicity and unexpected sophistication
{"Use only young borage leaves — older leaves develop fine hairs that become unpleasant in the mouth when cooked","Add borage in the last 5 minutes of cooking — longer cooking destroys its delicate cucumber freshness","Cook diced potato first with the onion base — the potato dissolves partially to thicken the soup naturally","Mixed pasta shapes cook at slightly different rates — add them together and taste frequently from the 8-minute mark","Ricotta added off heat to each bowl at service — it should not dissolve; it should sit on the surface and be swirled in"}
{"Borage flowers are edible and beautiful — add a few to each bowl as a garnish; they taste faintly of cucumber","The ricotta-borage combination is cooling and herbal — this soup is excellent in early summer as well as winter","A light drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil alongside the ricotta adds richness to what is otherwise a light, clear soup"}
{"Old borage leaves with mature hairs — the mouthfeel is unpleasant and the flavour too strong","Adding borage too early — it yellows and loses its freshness within 15 minutes of cooking","Uniform pasta shapes instead of mixed — the tradition of pasta mista from pantry remnants is both practical and texturally interesting"}
La Cucina Molisana — Tradizioni e Sapori