Here is a great recipe that will never let you down! Pasta e Fagioli Soup that tastes just like you are having soup, salad and breadsticks right at the Olive Garden! With a modest preparation, you will absolutely love how this recipe tastes!

Pasta e Fagioli Soup

Key Ingredients:

• 3½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1¼ cup chopped onion
• 2 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 2 chopped large celery stalk
• 2 large cloves minced garlic
• 3 Bay leafs
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• ¼ teaspoon chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 2 ounces Pancetta
• 2½ ounces Italian beef
• 7 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 1 cup chopped peeled tomatoes, fresh or canned
• 2 x 15-ounce cans cannellini or borlotti beans, drained and rinsed (or 3½ cups freshly cooked beans)
• ¼ cup chopped parsley
• Dash Kosher salt and 3 Dashes coarse black pepper (to taste)
• ½ pound Tubetti or Ditalini pasta

Table Ingredients:

• Romano cheese
• Coarse pepper grinder

Meal Preparation Statistics:

• Heat source: Sauté (two sauté pans)
• Preparation Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 16 minutes
• Total Time: 46 minutes
• Servings: 6 to 8
• Total time: 50 minutes

Preparation/Cooking Instructions:

Prepare the Tubetti or Ditalini pasta:
Boil and soften the Tubetti or Ditalini pasta before you start anything and prepare al dente. Have them on standby throughout the sauté and preparation. They are inserted directly before serving.

Sauté the Meats:
Heat the pancetti and Italian beef for 2½ minutes, and drain any grease. Marry them with the vegetable sauté stock.

Sauté the Vegetables:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot with medium-high heat. Sauté the onion, carrot and celery for 2 to 3 minutes, until it softens and becomes translucent in color. Add the garlic, chili flakes and Italian seasoning and sauté another minute. Remove any visible stalks and the bay leafs. Add the meat sauté.

Add Stock and Tomatoes:
Add the chicken stock with the tomatoes and bring then to a boil.

Adding Meat Stock to the Vegetable Stock:
Marry the meat vegetable sauté stock, the meat sauté stock, and the tomato vegetable sauté stock, plus add the cannellini or borlotti beans and parsley. When the pasta is al dente, add the beans and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Bring the stock temperature to the maintained serving temperature of 170°.

Adding the Tubetti or Ditalini pasta:
Last add the Tubetti or Ditalini pasta to the final stock and stir it in slowly, and leave the completed Pasta e Fagioli together a minimum of 5-10 minutes before serving.

Serve by Stirring the Pasta e Fagioli:
Make sure the Pasta is completely submerged before insteting your ladel into the Pasta e Fagioli. Serve the Pasta e Fagioli in a cup or bowl.

Finally your Pasta e Fagioli:
Bring the Pasta e Fagioli to your table with:

• Coarse pepper out of a grinder
• Romano cheese grater

Serve with a modest serving of Romano cheese. You are all set to enjoy, just like you are sitting at the Olive Garden! Well worth the wait. Add this to an optional garden salad and breadsticks and you are all set. Benvenuta Italia and Mangia, Mangia!!

NUTRITION FACTS (Estimate Per Serving):

• 398 Calories
• 11g Fat
• 57g Carbohydrates
• 20g Protein

Variables in ingredients, especially with vegetables and alternatives can make the nutrition infomation vary. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

You are ready to E-N-J-O-Y !!!

The Delicious Pasta e Fagioli Soup Recipe

Disclosure: Even though I worked at the Olive Garden, I worked as a server; and did not have access to their proprietary recipe. This recipe was referred to me from a friend  who loves cooking and I made this to her specifications. I agreed with her that it tasted just like it was made at the Olive Garden. The recipe may differ from theirs, but it sure does taste, in my opinion, like the real thing!