Pasta E Fagioli (Italian soup) with Italian Sausage

PanNan's Note:

A delicious version of this popular Italian soup. Adding the sausage (regular or turkey) makes it a satisfying meal if served with a nice warm baguette.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion , chopped
• 2 cloves garlic , finely chopped
• 1 carrot , peeled & chopped
• 1 stalk celery , chopped
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage links or 1 lb hot Italian sausage , casing removed and crumbled (can use turkey sausage)
• 2 teaspoons dry oregano
• 1 tablespoon dry basil
• 1 -2 teaspoon red pepper flakes , to taste
• 1 ½ cups canned chopped tomatoes with juice
• 3 -4 cups vegetable stock or 3 -4 cups chicken stock
• 1 can progresso cannellini beans
• 1 cup ditalini or 1 cup small shell pasta
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
• parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium high heat.
2. Cook onion in oil 2 minutes.
3. Stir in garlic, celery and carrots and cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add and brown crumbled sausage.
5. Add basil, oregano and red pepper.
6. Toss to coat.
7. Stir in tomatoes and stock.
8. Bring to a boil.
9. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.
10. If necessary, add an additional cup of stock or water and stir in beans and tiny pasta.
11. Simmer for 6- 8 minutes or until pasta is tender.
12. Stir in parsley and serve hot with grated Parmesan cheese.

Reviews

[Caryn]

This soup was a huge hit in our house! It is a very hearty soup bursting with flavor. The soup is also very appealing to the eye with the red, orange, white and green colors from the vegetables and beans. This soup is hearty enough to be a stew/chili as it is not loaded with broth. I doubled the recipe using hot Italian sausage and ground beef (I only had hot Italian sausage which was too much heat for the entire family). I used a couple of extra carrots and stalks of celery to beef up the vegetables. I was unable to locate cannellini beans at my grocery store so I substituted navy beans which are also white. I can't say enough about how great this soup tasted. Thank-you so much for sharing your recipe!

[mbwolf]

Wonderful recipe. I used larger bowtie noodles, but is great as submitted with plenty of room to play with.

[swe3tmisery]

this is surprisingly good! i didn't have any spinach or cheese, but it turned out delicious anyway! thanks alot!!!