Spicy pork soup with pasta & parmesan

Something from Nothing A Cookbook, p. 80

This soup is salty and porky, cheesy and garlicky. There are little whimsical bits of pasta floating about, soaking up all that salty, porky, cheesy, garlicky broth. It’s what I’d call an undeniable ‘crowd-pleaser’. There is also cime di rapa, a vegetable I’ve come to learn is shockingly divisive (shocking to me, as it’s a personal top five). So here’s what I’ll say: The cime di rapa is important here. It has a unique ability to be everything at once: delicate and sturdy, bitter and sweet. Simmering it in the fatty, seasoned broth mimics the effect of blanching, which mellows out the bitterness some people find so off-putting so I’d love for you to take a leap of faith even if you don’t think you like it. If you REALLY hate it, okay, use kale.