When There’s Pasta in the Soup, Everybody’s Happy

How big is an appetite? Your appetite? My appetite? My children’s appetites? I constantly return to these questions at home, when I cook for my family or plan a dinner party, and at work, when creating recipes or judging portion sizes in my restaurants. I want people to feel satisfied and well looked after, but I don’t like waste or excess.

Recently, Jess Thomson, who tests the recipes for this column in an American kitchen (as opposed to the British kitchen where they are created), brought it up. “There is no way this would stretch to eight in our house,” she wrote, reacting to the number of servings I suggested for my minestrone, while, I hope, also sending me a surreptitious compliment.

Winter Minestrone With Cabbage Pesto