Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli Soup

One of the dishes Olive Garden is most famous for is their soup, and for good reason. With this easy recipe for Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli Soup, you can create a homemade version of the restaurant favorite. Your family will eat up this delicious soup like there's no tomorrow. It's chocked full of veggies and spices, plus ground beef, so it's a hearty meal that's great for fall or winter.

Serves: 6
Cooking Time: 40 min




Ingredients
  • 1 cup ditalini pasta, uncooked
  • 1 lb lean ground beef or mild Italian sausage (I've tried both and like either)
  • 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 1 cup diced carrots (about 2 medium, you can cut them into matchsticks if desired)
  • 1 cup diced celery (about 3 stalks)
  • 3/4 cup chopped yellow onion (about 1/2 of a large)
  • 1 large clove garlic, finely minced
  • 3 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
  • 3 cups beef broth (chicken broth works fine too)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 3/4 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 (15 oz) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (15 oz) can great northern beans, drained and rinsed
  • Romano cheese (I also like it with Italian cheese blend), for serving
Directions
  • Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large non-stick saucepan over medium high heat, crumble in ground beef or sausage and cook, stirring occasionally until cooked through. Pour beef (along with fat from beef, if you want it to be healthier you can drain the fat) into a bowl, set aside. Heat remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil in same large saucepan, saute carrots, celery and onion over medium high heat until tender about 4 minutes, add garlic and saute 1 minute longer. Reduce heat to a low, add tomato sauce, beef broth, water, canned tomatoes, sugar, basil, oregano, thyme, marjoram, cooked beef along, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with lid and allow to simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until veggies are soft. Meanwhile prepare ditalini pasta according to directions on package, cooking to al dente.  
  • Add cooked and drained pasta to soup along with kidney beans and great northern beans and allow to cook 5 minutes longer. Serve warm with grated Romano cheese if desired.
  • Note: the longer the soup rests the more liquid the pasta will absorb so you can thin it with additional beef broth if desired.
  • Recipe Source: Cooking Classy

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