Zuppa Pasta e Fagioli

That’s amore

If you are older than 40 you have probably heard the words by Dean Martin from That’s Amore when he melodiously sings “When the stars make you drool just like pasta fagioli, That's amore”. Well this is the soup he is singing about.  It is a hearty healthy soup with a lot of vegetables. Pasta e fagioli zuppa literally means pasta and bean soup, but it is much much more, so don’t let the name fool you. My recipe contains the red kidney bean and a white bean from central and southern Italy called cannellini. But the soup also contains, celery, onion, meat, spices and tomatoes. 

Kidney and cannellini beans

Ingredients (10 servings):

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 pounds lean ground beef (stay away from the fatty hamburger beef)
• 1 medium onion diced
• 3 large carrots shredded
• 3 large celery sticks diced
• 3 15.5 oz. cans of diced tomatoes (use San Marzano plum tomatoes if you can, but Hunts will do)
• 1 15.5 oz. can of red kidney beans rinsed and drained
• 1 15.5 oz. can of cannellini (white kidney beans) beans rinsed and drained
• 3 32 oz. containers of beef broth
• 3 teaspoons fresh oregano chopped
• 3 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 teaspoons of fresh Italian parsley chopped
• 1 ½ teaspoons Tabasco sauce (hot sauce)
• 6 cups of Botticelli’s rich tomato sauce
• 8 oz. of dry elbow macaroni

Preparation:

In a large Dutch oven (my large one has about a 12.5 inch diameter and is 8 inches deep), brown the beef in the olive oil. 

Brown the beef.

Add the onion, carrots, celery, and diced tomatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes.

The carrots, celery, and onions.

The onions, celery, and carrots with the beef.

Add the beans along with the beef broth, oregano, pepper, salt, parsley, Tabasco sauce, the rich tomato sauce, and noodles and cook on medium heat until the onions and celery are tender (about 45 minutes). That’s amore.

Pasta e fagioli

Jack Botticelli