So for our first meal we decided to go with a meal I LOVE, with ingredients courtesy of
Lidia Bastianich (I can never follow a recipe all the way through).
(Mini holding Lidia's book - if you don't own it, go out & get it)
If you've never tasted Pasta Fagioli, let me explain what it is. It is a Pasta & Bean soup with a yummy tomato base. The ingredients are so simple you probably already have all the items in your pantry!
Ingredients (I started by using Lidia's book for the actual items, but not her measurements)
6 strips of bacon - sliced into pieces
2 cans Cannellini beans, with liquid (white Kidney Beans work the same)
3 carrots peeled and chopped
1 can crushed plum tomatoes
2 cans chicken broth
1 medium onion - chopped
2 Idaho potatoes - chopped
1 garlic clove - minced
1 lb elbow macaroni pasta
3 sprigs of Rosemary
3 Whole Bay leaves
Salt
Ground Pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes
Now Lidia's recipe calls for you to cold wash and cook dry beans for like 2 days - um, we're hungry and must eat right away, so I got 2 cans of beans already prepared, we were eating about an hour & a half after the whole process started. I'm all for making it from scratch, but not on a Tuesday night. Made from scratch meals are saved for Sundays.
I didn't follow Lidia's recipe at all. I made it my way. So I start by slicing 6 strips of bacon (you can use Pancetta or no meat at all if you'd like - we just like the flavor)into pieces and frying them in a large pot. Next we added the onions, garlic & carrots and sauteed them. We cooked them until the onions were barely noticeable anymore.. I added the picture of Mini chopping onions because she can chop onions without shedding a tear - how?
After letting it cook, we added 2 cans of chicken broth, then filled the cans up with water and added that as well. Add crushed red pepper, salt & pepper to taste and let that sit for a bit, stirring occasionally. Then we added the potatoes, rosemary and bay leaves, and let it sit for about 30 minutes.
Next we added the can of crushed plum tomatoes and let it sit for another 30 minutes (a lot of sitting-I know). After that we added both cans of Canellini beans with there liquid and you guessed it - we let it sit! But not that long.
Last step is to add the pasta, but do not add too much cause it will suck up all the juice, and do not let it sit too long cause it will become to mushy in the hot soup.. Taste it again to make sure you LOVE it and VOILA!
Mini likes Parmesan cheese on EVERYTHING, so we added cheese to hers, mine was perfect just as it was!
Bon Appettit!
