Pasta E Fagioli Soup
Servings: 4 -6
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 large carrot or 2 small carrots diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- Pinch of smoked paprika*
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste or 1 cup chopped canned tomatoes no juice
- 3 cups cooked white beans e.g. Cannellini or Great Northern or Borlotti beans (aka cranberry beans) - if you use 2 (15-ounce) cans, drain the beans, no need to rinse
- 1-2 teaspoons sea salt depending on sodium content of the stock
- 8 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock divided (some people use beef stock)
- 1 ¾ cups small pasta such as ditalini, small elbows or broken pasta bits, about 7 ounces
- ¼ cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Instructions
- Warm oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and sauté until onion is tender and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic, smoked paprika, and tomato paste and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add beans, salt and 7 cups stock. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Pull 2 cups worth of soup out of the pot. Make sure you get some beans in there. Blend in a blender until smooth. Pour back in the pot and bring the soup up to a boil. Add the pasta and cook in the soup until perfectly tender. Check the package for cook time. Stir in parsley.
- Taste for seasoning. Serve with Parmesan cheese and/or another drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Notes
*Traditionally, a little diced pancetta or a piece of salt pork is used in this soup. I don’t eat pork, so a pinch of smoked paprika just adds that bit of smokiness. Feel free to add ¼ to ½ cup of diced pancetta (or bacon) to the pot after the vegetables have been sautéed in Step 1. Sauté for about 5-10 minutes.