Mmm, mmm good! Pasta Fagioli, a traditional Italian soup, is among the top three of my all-time favorite super-simple Italian dishes. The ingredients:
These are pretty much the basics, and you can be somewhat flexible with them. For the beans, I prefer these small, white creamy beans from Goya, but you can use the larger cannellini beans, which are delicious also. Pasta? I always choose tubettini over any other small pasta, but you can be just as successful with ditalini or small shells. Here’s the recipe for my preparation:
PASTA FAGIOLI
Ingredients
- 1 (15.5 oz) can Goya small white beans, undrained
- 1/2 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
- 3 large cloves of fresh garlic , chopped
- 1 tbsp . chopped fresh , Italian flat-leaf parsley
- 1/2 cup (+/-) olive oil
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped celery
- 1 cup (+/-) light & fat free chicken broth
- 1/2 lb . tubettini pasta
Instructions
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Saute garlic, parsley and celery in olive oil, on low flame, until celery is lightly translucent.
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Add undrained beans, tomato sauce, and chicken broth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer on low for about an hour. In a separate pot, boil 1/2 lb. tubettini pasta for approx. 6 minutes (note: the pasta will be firm and undercooked). Drain pasta completely and add to bean mixture. Add additional chicken broth, as necessary, to keep soup from getting too thick.
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Continue to simmer on low until pasta is cooked to taste. Although I like it "as is", go ahead and sprinkle on a teaspoon or two of parmesan cheese!
Recipe Notes
serves 2 - 4
This is comfort food at it’s best, and it’s really quite simple to prepare. A loaf of crispy Italian bread to go with it, and life is good.
“Mangiare e Divertirsi!”
“A”
Did I mention pasta fagioli was what my father threatened us with if we didn’t eat my mother’s good Irish cooking?
ooooooohh……if only all threats could be so delicious! Did he threaten you with cannoli for dessert?
Unfortunately, cannoli were about as rare as people of Italian descent in Maine in those days, but he might have had some success if he had bribed us with a slice of Neapolitan cake….
Teresa, does that mean you couldn’t get pizza in Maine either?
After our conversation yesterday, this recipe came to mind when I was planning the menu for the week. Wednesday night will be Aunt Annie’s Pasta Fagioli!
Wednesday night will really be Grandma’s pasta fagioli night! The only differences between this recipe and hers are the smaller beans and the addition of the chicken broth, which was Aunt Diane’s twist 😉 I think it makes the dish a little “soupier” and a bit more flavorful.
I’m curious…will the boys eat it? Kudos to you if they do!
Well, now that I’m talking pasta fagioli, it may find its way on my menu this week. Let me know how yours turns out!!
Picked up my son from your house and could think of nothing else but the smell and taste of your delicious soup! On this rainy spring day that is turning into a week of rain, I decided to make this treat to keep my family warm! I have to say it is AMAZING!!!!! Easy and delicious! Thank Ann yet again for another fabulous recipe! 🙂