If there’s one dish that represents winter 2025 in Boston in our home — a winter that apparently still isn’t over — it’s manfettini in broth. A quick, hearty dish, perfect for rainy and cold days, made with just a few ingredients you always have at home. I would call it “a comfort that’s also good for you.”

Since I always make it when it’s cold and gray outside, the hardest part is taking a decent photo of this dish. Believe me, you’ll fall in love with it for its simplicity and fresh flavor.

The broth is called “crazy” because it’s not the usual slow-cooked broth — it’s made by blending a carrot, a celery stalk, and a small leek or onion in water. You heat it up with a tablespoon of tomato paste, a cup of peas, and after half an hour, you add the pasta: manfettini, made fresh in the food processor with one egg and 100 grams of flour.

Recipe

Ingredients:

For the “crazy” broth:

• Water: 1 liter
• Small leek (or onion): 1
• Celery stalk: 1
• Carrot: 1
• Peas: 200 grams (I use frozen)
• Tomato paste: 1 heaping tablespoon
• Extra virgin olive oil: 1 tablespoon
• Coarse salt
• Ground pepper
• Chopped fresh parsley (or frozen), optional

For the pasta:

• All-purpose Flour: 100 grams + 2 heaping tablespoons
• Large egg: 1

Method:

With an immersion blender, finely blend the celery, carrot, and onion together with half of the water. You’ll get a sort of raw vegetable purée.

Pour this into a pot with the olive oil, tomato paste, and peas. Cook for a few minutes, then add the remaining water and adjust with salt. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the manfettini. Here’s the method using a food processor:
Add the flour and egg to the food processor and mix until you get a dough ball. If the egg is too small and doesn’t form a ball, add a spoonful of water.

At this point, with the machine running, pour in the extra 2 tablespoons of flour all at once and pulse for just 5–10 seconds — this will produce many tiny dough balls. The manfettini are ready.

Line a plate with a clean cloth, sprinkle with flour, and spread the manfettini on top while you wait for the pea broth to finish cooking.

After 30 minutes, add parsley to the crazy broth (if you like it), then pour the manfettini into the broth. Cook for a couple of minutes, and serve sprinkled with good grated Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Tips

If you don’t have a food processor, you can quickly knead the flour and egg by hand, then let the dough ball air-dry while the broth cooks. Once dry, you can grate it using a coarse grater or finely chop it with a knife.

It’s important to remove the manfettini from the food processor immediately to prevent them from sticking together.

You can use other vegetables along with the peas, such as diced potatoes. Or you can replace the peas with beans, chickpeas, or lentils.

In Romagna, there’s an absolutely delicious version made with cuttlefish.

If you don’t need the full batch, the manfettini can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days. Keep them on the same plate, floured and covered with a clean cloth napkin, and make sure to use another napkin to cover them. They can also be frozen directly on the plate with the napkin, and once frozen, transferred to a freezer bag so you can use only the amount you need.

The crazy broth can also be kept in the refrigerator for a few days, stored in a tightly sealed container — in fact, it tastes even better after it rests.

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