Pasta Fagioli

Description

Pasta Fagioli is hands down one of my favorite Italian soups that is loaded with so many good things from perfectly seasoned ground pork,  creamy beans, and nutritious vegetables.  Most recipes for Pasta Fagioli call for using Italian sausage for the protein in this soup, however I find that Italian sausage tends to dominate the soup and lends way too much salt to the overall recipe.  As an alternative, I’ve opted for ground pork that is well seasoned, yet not over powering.  Another huge benefit to using ground pork versus sausage is the amount of protein you get per serving. Ground pork is almost double the amount of protein at 20 grams per 3 oz serving versus 12 for sausage, and if you’re watching your protein, you know what a benefit that is!  This recipe starts by browning your pork for a good flavor base.  From there it’s time to sear off your carrot, celery, and onion.  Once your vegetables are looking tender, you can add your tomato paste and garlic.  When cooking with tomato paste, it’s always important to take the time to caramelize your tomato paste for a much deeper flavor, trust me this extra step really pays off.  After a quick deglaze with some white wine, you can add your chicken broth (I recommend low sodium), a parmesan rind, and it’s time to simmer.  If you’re asking yourself, why would I have a parmesan rind laying around, keep reading on reading.  Parmesan rinds are not what you would exactly grate to put on top of your spaghetti dinner, however in some recipes, simmering your parmesan rind is a huge flavor booster and can really pump up the umami flavors in your dish. I like to cut my parmesan rinds into 2-3 inch squares, pop them in the freezer bag to use for any future uses, what little space they take up in the freezer will pay off ten fold one day.  Enough about parmesan rinds and back to the soup. Once your soup simmers for a while, you can add your pasta, beans, and pork back to the pot and cook your pasta according to the package directions.  Once your pasta is done, you can add your final ingredients, and it’s time to enjoy!  After your first few bites, you’ll see for yourself just how delicious and warming this soup is.  Your family will surely celebrate every time they see this soup on your regular dinner rotation.  Speaking of celebrating, did you know about that time we had the most awkward birthday party?  Since my kids' birthdays are so close together, we usually rent out an entire venue to have all of their classmates celebrate a day of fun with them.  This particular year, we had decided to go old school and rent out an entire roller rink. I decided to book the rink months in advance just to clear it off my plate and have the extra assurance that we would have the party venue secured.  Months later, the day of the party finally came, and we greeted about 60 excited kids outside the venue.  We opened the doors and burst in with excitement when we were all met with the most confusing sight.  Instead of a lacquered wooden floor, colorful carpeting, and a disco ball, we walked into the most somber scene any of us had ever encountered.  Walls were a standard white color, and to the left was a wall of decorative urns while the opposite wall held casket samples. It turns out that the owner of the roller rink had gotten themselves into some pretty serious gambling debt and had to sell off the rink in a hurry only to be bought out by a funeral parlor!  Luckily they weren’t fully operational yet during the time we had burst through the doors, but if you could only imagine our confusion of walking into a casket and urn gallery instead of a roller rink.  Lucky for us, it was a lovely day so we all relocated to a local park for the party and had a great time outdoors instead.  After a long afternoon of celebrating, we returned home as hungry as could be.  Lucky for us, I had all the ingredients to whip us up a nice pot of Pasta Fagioli.