Pasta Fagioli
All winter I have been craving soups. If you know me, you would know this is weird, because I am not a soup person. I mean, I'll eat it if it's put in front of me, and I make it all the time, but I'll never order it in a restaurant and I certainly never yearn for a bowl. But ever since I started making my own vegetable, beef, and chicken stock, thus enriching the flavor of my soups by leaps and bounds, I've been hooked. In America, there is easy access to quality boxed stocks, here, however, all there is is soup mix, and so taking the time to make stock, for me, was about giving my family the healthiest base for soups, stews, and sauces. What is Pasta Fagioli you ask? This famous Italian soup seems awfully similar to Minestrone if you think about it- but where Minestrone is meant to have lots of vegetables, Pasta Fagioli is light on the veggies and heavy on the beans and pasta, a perfect hearty soup for winter time. In keeping with our recent lower carb and healthier lifestyle, I used rice and quinoa pasta which worked out great, but any pasta will do. And like most soups, the flavor of this soup increases and gets more delicious as it sits. We ate it for the better part of a week and couldn't get enough. Enjoy!
3 Tbl olive oil
1 large onion, (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, sliced
3 large carrots, sliced
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
400 gram (14 ounces) can chopped tomato
1 570 gram can of 22x tomato paste (this is for Israeli users, In america use one small can of tomato paste)
3 liters (12 cups) chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup white beans, soaked overnight (This will yield approximately 21/2 cups of beans after soaking)
200 grams (7 ounces) of defrosted and drained frozen spinach (you can also use fresh),about 7 cubes of leaf spinach
2 cups of short pasta
salt and pepper
In a large pot heat the olive oil and add the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, oregano, basil, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the white wine and let it cook for a minute to cook the alcohol out. Add the tomato, tomato paste and stock. Mix well and then add the beans. Season well with salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil and then let it simmer for about 2 hours until the beans are tender. You can let it simmer even longer, the longer it goes the better the deeper the flavor will be. Once it is done, remove the bay leaf and then remove 2 cups of mixture and blend it with an immersion blender and then add it back to the soup. This will give the soup great body. Add the spinach and cook another 5 minutes. The pasta can be added directly into the soup where you can cook it another 7 minutes or so until the pasta is tender. I prefer to cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl when I serve it so the pasta doesn't get bloated and soggy
3 Tbl olive oil
1 large onion, (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, sliced
3 large carrots, sliced
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
400 gram (14 ounces) can chopped tomato
1 570 gram can of 22x tomato paste (this is for Israeli users, In america use one small can of tomato paste)
3 liters (12 cups) chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup white beans, soaked overnight (This will yield approximately 21/2 cups of beans after soaking)
200 grams (7 ounces) of defrosted and drained frozen spinach (you can also use fresh),about 7 cubes of leaf spinach
2 cups of short pasta
salt and pepper
In a large pot heat the olive oil and add the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, oregano, basil, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and saute until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the white wine and let it cook for a minute to cook the alcohol out. Add the tomato, tomato paste and stock. Mix well and then add the beans. Season well with salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil and then let it simmer for about 2 hours until the beans are tender. You can let it simmer even longer, the longer it goes the better the deeper the flavor will be. Once it is done, remove the bay leaf and then remove 2 cups of mixture and blend it with an immersion blender and then add it back to the soup. This will give the soup great body. Add the spinach and cook another 5 minutes. The pasta can be added directly into the soup where you can cook it another 7 minutes or so until the pasta is tender. I prefer to cook the pasta separately and add it to each bowl when I serve it so the pasta doesn't get bloated and soggy
Pasta Fagioli doesn't seems bad soup recipe at all. I will check it soon. And share my experiences with you. I hope it will give my family a feel of joy.:)
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