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It's even better the next day.

Published on January 31, 2026

Credit:

Carson Downing / Food Styling: Annie Probst

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This hearty soup packed with ground pork, garlic, pasta, cheese, greens, and broth by Alison Roman is featured in her new cookbook, Something from Nothing. After browning the ground pork, bloom whole fennel seeds and red pepper flakes in the pot to intensify their flavors. If you want to prep in advance, this soup can be made three days ahead and refrigerated. Just remember to keep the noodles separate to prevent soggy pasta.

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Ingredients

  • 1 lb. ground pork or turkey

  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

  • 1 Tbsp. fennel seed

  • 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper, plus more

  • 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth

  • 6 to 8 oz. dried pasta (a short, tubey noodle or something fun like radiatore)

  • 1 bunch broccoli rabe or kale, thick stems removed, chopped

  • Parmesan or pecorino cheese, for grating or shaving (lots of it)

  • 1 lemon, halved for squeezing over (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the pork and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook, resisting the urge to break it up too much at first. As it browns, break it up into small pieces; some of the pork will get very small (these bits will get very brown and crispy), and some will stay larger, in sausage-like clumps (these will be tender and juicier). Once the pork is about 80 percent browned to your liking, 8 to 10 minutes, add the garlic. Continue cooking until the pork is well browned throughout and the garlic is softened and starting to brown around the edges, another 4 to 5 minutes.

  2. Add the fennel seed and red pepper flakes. Give them a stir to toast in the pork fat, cooking for a minute or two. Add the broth; bring to a simmer.

  3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a medium pot of salted water until just before al dente. (It’ll continue to cook in the soup, but it’s good to give it a head start. I don’t love cooking raw pasta in a brothy soup—it makes the broth too starchy and cloudy.)

  4. Once the soup has simmered for a few minutes, add the broccoli rabe and the pasta, stirring to wilt the rabe. Simmer until the rabe is tender and the flavors have mingled appropriately, another 5 to 8 minutes or so. Season with salt, pepper, and more red pepper flakes, if you like.

  5. To serve, ladle into bowls and top with tons of cheese. Sometimes I squeeze lemon over, but not always (doesn’t need it, but it can be nice). Serves 4.

Credits

Recipes excerpted from the book Something from Nothing: A Cookbook by Alison Roman. Copyright © 2025 by Alison Roman. Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

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