Food experiment #5: Pasta e Fagioli

I've always been a mostly-indifferent fan of soup. I like the idea of soup, especially on a cold winter evening. There are some soups I really enjoy. I absolutely adore a good matzoh ball soup. I crave chili on chilly, drizzly, freezing, rainy, snowy, etc evenings. I want to like soup more, I want to cook soup more, I want to cook soup well, especially since G loves soup and laments that he can't eat soup more often, because eating commercially-produced soup is "like eating a salt lick" (in his words). I know that I won't like soup more unless I'm exposed to it more, I know that I won't cook soup more unless I make an effort, and I know that I won't cook soup well unless I practice. So when I realized that I was left with a big ol' ham bone on my hands after our pre-New Year's Eve meal of spiral sliced ham + fixings, I was faced with the perfect opportunity to practice. The only question was which soup to cook. Initially, I thought of the classic split pea soup, or perhaps a lentil soup. I didn't think my parents would particularly enjoy those. And then, I remembered my family's fondness for pasta e fagioli.

I enjoy a good meal at a fancy restaurant as much as anyone, probably more. I also have very fond memories of yummy meals at chain restaurants and fast food joints. Olive Garden is a particular favorite of mine, thanks to my sister's college years in a small central Virginia town in which you had about four choices of finer eating establishments, all of them chains. I tended to order the pasta e fagioli soup, as did my dad and probably my mom and sister as well. So I knew that my dad would enjoy pasta e fagioli, and I figured my mom would at least be familiar with it.



My search of leftover ham bone based pasta e fagioli soup led me to this recipe. As usual, I modified the recipe as written, and made it my own. Here's what I did:

Pasta e Fagioli [8 servings]

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Beans & Ham Stock

1 (16oz) package dried navy beans

1 leftover ham bone, with some meat on it

7 C water

1 medium onion, halved

1 carrot, cut into large (2") chunks

2 stalks celery, cut into large (2") chunks

3 cloves garlic

Soup

6 oz boxed elbow macaroni

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 (16oz) can diced tomatoes, no salt added

2 stalks celery, diced

1 carrot, diced

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (I used half regular, half chipotle)

grated Parmesan, to taste

salt & pepper, to taste

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Cooking the beans & ham stock:

Rinse navy beans, then place in Dutch oven with ham bone, halved onion, large celery and carrot chunks, whole garlic cloves, and 7 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then simmer over medium-low heat, covered, until the beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Cooking the soup:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add pasta, and cook until al dente according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking, then set aside.

When beans are nearly ready, heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic until the onion softens and becomes translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes (with liquid), celery, carrot, red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of the stock from the pot of beans. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook until the carrot has softened, about 10 minutes. While the tomato mixture simmers, remove the ham bone from the beans, separate the meat from the bone, dice the meat, and discard the bone.

Add the beans, cooked macaroni, and diced ham into the tomato mixture and stir to combine. Add the rest of the ham stock. Add a handful or two of grated Parmesan, salt, and pepper, to taste. Simmer gently until the macaroni and beans are tender, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes). Stir in the chopped parsley right before serving.