The Cardiologist's Wife

Pasta, Bean And Sausage Soup Or Pasta E Fagioli

[ Post by Lisa Tedder ][ Post on February 11, 2013 ][ In Pasta, Soup ]

The weather has been so mild this winter  that I haven’t made soup as often as I usually do.  I recently tried this new pasta soup recipe and my family declared it was a winner for any night.  I love that soup cooks up in one pot so there’s less mess to clean up and that it can have so many good vegetables, herbs and fiber.  Best of all, soup just hits the spot!

 

Here are a few of my tricks I’d like to share before we get to the recipe.  Recipes often call for 1 tablespoon of tomato paste so you open a can and then what to do with all that’s left?  Scoop out tomato paste in one tablespoon blobs and drop them into a freezer bag or onto a piece of waxed paper and freeze.  Remove from the wax paper when frozen and place in a bag.  Now you have pre-measured tomato paste whenever you need it.  Many recipes also call for red or white wine and you certainly don’t want to open a whole bottle and you may not like the cooking wine available in the grocery (which isn’t bad for cooking by the way).  I recently froze the remains of a bottle of red wine to use for cooking.  You wouldn’t want to thaw it and drink it but freezing wine works for cooking.  Simply pour it into an ice cube tray and the next time you need wine in a recipe, pop out a couple of cubes or so.  Now those of you who like wine may be thinking, “But I never have leftover wine.” so you’ll just have to figure out something on your own.  Look for Barilla’s new white fiber pasta; it has more fiber than regular pasta but the same taste if you don’t like the nutty taste of whole wheat pasta.

 

Anyway, serve this soup with some crusty bread and you are done.  The ingredient list is long, but don’t let that stop you as this isn’t hard to make at all.

 

 

Pasta E Fagioli

 

1/2 to 1 lb. Italian sausage

1 onion diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

pinch of red pepper flakes

1/4 cup white wine, optional

4 cups of chicken broth

1 can diced tomatoes

2 cans cannellini or white beans, drained and rinsed

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

1 tsp. oregano

1 bay leaf

1 cup small pasta such as ditalini

salt and pepper to taste

chopped fresh parsley and grated parmesan, optional, for garnish

 

Remove casings from sausage and brown in a large pot until crumbled and no pink remains.  Drain sausage in a colander.  While meat drains, sauté onion, carrots and celery in the pot with 1 Tbsp. of olive oil over medium high heat about 10 minutes or until just starting to brown.  Add wine and deglaze the pan.  Return meat to pan.  Add garlic, red pepper flakes, chicken broth, tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano and the bay leaf, salt and pepper to taste.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer 15 minutes; longer if you have time.  Add beans and pasta and let cook about 10 minutes or until al dente.  Sprinkle each bowl with some parsley and parmesan if you like.  Enjoy!

Upadated on February 11, 2013