Zuppa di Lentils and Pastina

This morning was another rainy morning in Boston. Since it's the middle of July, however, temperatures were in the 80s by 9 AM. The rain did remind me of a soup I've been meaning to write up, though. I made it in late March, when by all accounts it should be spring. Boston weather is variable, to be euphemistic about it, so it was another cold, gray day. Perfect for soup. I adapted the recipe from the back of the box containing the pastina, which are teeny-tiny pearl noodles. Mine happen to be shaped like stars! I made this for myself, and had enough to last two days. The nice thing about soups is you can easily change the amount to suit your needs.


Ingredients
1/4 cup pastina
Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
Rosemary, to taste (I used dried, and I also threw in some of my dried Fines Herbes, which is a combination of thyme, oregano, sage, rosemary, marjoram, and basil. Use whatever you have.)
Garlic, minced
1/2 lb. lentils
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preparation
1. Heat the oil in the pot you're going to use to cook the soup. Add the onion and garlic, and saute.
2. Add water, lentils, and everything else but the pastina. The amount of water depends on how you like your soup. The amount called for in the recipe is 6 cups. Lentils and pastina both absorb a lot of water (the pastina, especially) so you may want to check on it and add more water if necessary. As you can see by the picture, I like my soup with very little broth. Bring the water to a boil, and cook until the lentils are soft.
3. Add the pastina, and cook until that's soft, about 6 min.