Pasta e fagioli
The cozy Italian bean and pasta soup, made here with ground beef in a tomato broth and finished with a snowfall of parmesan.
- 55 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 6
- About $2.14 a serving
- 410 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 6 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with the juice
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
- 2 beef bouillon cubes, check the box: most cubes make 2 cups each
- 1 cup elbow macaroni
- ¼ cup grated parmesan (optional)
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 4 cups water
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 410 calories, 27 g protein, 47 g carbs and 13 g fat, and costs about $2.14 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No kidney beans? Pinto beans or black beans work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No elbow macaroni? Penne works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion, carrots and celery, the garlic, and and both cans of beans.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Cook the beef in a large pot over medium-high heat, breaking it up, until no pink remains, 7 to 8 minutes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Spoon off most of the fat, then add the onion, carrots and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the garlic and Italian seasoning for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 30 sec
Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, bouillon cubes, beans, salt and pepper and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Turn the heat to low and for 15 minutes so the flavors come together.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Turn the heat to medium, stir in the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until it’s tender.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Stir every minute or two. Pasta in soup loves to settle and stick to the bottom.Taste for salt and serve with parmesan and parsley on top.
Dolly’s tip: The pasta keeps soaking up the broth overnight. Stir a splash of water into leftovers when you reheat them.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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