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Italian Pasta and Cannellini Bean Soup (Pasta e Fagioli)

This is a traditional Italian pasta and bean soup with a tomato broth base. It's wonderfully savory, with a great variety in flavors and textures. It's complex without being fussy, and simple without being boring.
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Total Time 42 minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 strips 2 ounces bacon, diced
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 2 carrots diced
  • 1 stalk of celery diced
  • 3 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • kosher salt + fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 2 cans 15 ounces each cannellini beans drained + rinsed
  • 8 cups reduced-sodium canned chicken broth
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 3/4 cup tubetti ditalini, or other short, tubular pasta (i used ditalini)
  • 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan plus more for garnish
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley optional, for garnish

Method
 

  1. In a Dutch oven or stockpot, cook bacon over medium heat until browned and crisp, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.
  2. Add onion, carrots and celery; cook until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add garlic and rosemary; cook until fragrant, 1 minute.
  4. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  5. Stir in tomato paste, beans, red pepper flakes, and broth.
  6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, until soup has thickened slightly, about 20 minutes.
  7. Lightly mash some of the beans in the pot to give the soup body.
  8. Add pasta to the pot; cook until al dente, about 8 minutes (may vary according to your pasta).
  9. Season to taste, if needed, with additional salt and pepper.
  10. To serve, ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle with parmesan and parsley, if desired.

Notes

This soup is not vegetarian, as it has bacon + chicken stock as ingredients. However, it can easily be made vegetarian by omitting the bacon, adding a little salt + liquid smoke to mimic the bacon, substituting olive oil or butter for the bacon fat + vegetable stock for the chicken stock.