Making Perfect Pasta E Fagioli

If you've ever eaten at an Olive Garden restaurant, chances are you've at least seen pasta e fagioli. The classic Italian soup is one of the restaurant's most popular dishes, and copycat recipes are all over the Internet. My recipe, however, is not a copycat - I like to think of it as an improvement. Literally translated, pasta e fagioli means pasta with beans. This soup adds meat and vegetables for a hearty meal your family will love.

Ingredients

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium white onion
1 large carrot
3 stalks celery
3 cloves garlic
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz can kidney beans
1 14.5 oz can white beans
1 14.5 oz can low sodium beef stock
1/2 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
1 dried bay leaf
4 oz. small uncooked pasta, such as ditali
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions
1. In a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat, brown the ground beef, being careful to break it into small pieces as it cooks. A wooden spatula works best for this.

2. While the beef is cooking, finely dice the onion, peeled carrot, celery, and garlic. Remember you want the pieces small - this is soup you're making after all. If you don't have one, I highly recommend investing in an onion chopper - despite the name it's great for quickly dicing most vegetables, not just onions.

3. Once your beef is browned, add diced vegetables to the pot and cook for 10-12 minutes, until vegetables begin to soften. If you didn't use lean ground beef, be sure to drain the grease before you add the vegetables - and get lean next time, draining grease from a stockpot isn't easy! With lean you can leave the grease - you want a little bit for the vegetables to cook in.

4. Once the veggies have started to soften, add herbs to the pot, stir well, and cook for one minute. Now, add the beans and tomatoes without draining the liquid, and all other ingredients except the pasta. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for an hour.

5. When your soup has been simmering for about 40 minutes, boil a small pot of water and cook the pasta. Don't fully cook the pasta, you want it to be a little tough to the touch - al dente as the experts say. Once your pasta is mostly cooked, go ahead and drain it, but keep 1 cup of the pasta water.

6. Add the cooked pasta to the stockpot and simmer for another 15 minutes, until pasta is fully cooked. If the soup is too thick for your tastes, add some of the pasta water you kept to thin it down. This is a thick, hearty soup - don't add more than a cup of the pasta water. If you must have it thinner than is possible with the pasta water, add another can of low sodium beef stock - but be aware this will make the broth a little more beefy than tomato-ey.

This recipe can easily be adapted to a crock pot as well. After step three, throw everything in the crock pot, including cooking the pasta and adding it. Cook on high for an hour, or low for at least two.

Serve your pasta e fagioli with a salad, garlic bread, or even on its own. This recipe makes a large pot of soup, you'll probably be eating leftovers for a day or two. Leftover pasta e fagioli also freezes well, and is great to reheat on those cold nights when you just want to curl up with something warm without any fuss.