Pasta Fagioli

Prep the bacon, garlic, celery, carrots and onions as specified on the list above. Drain and rinse all beans leaving one can of white beans separate. Mash that one can of white beans (use a food processor or mash by hand). Open the cans of fire roasted tomatoes – do not drain or chop them.

Cook chopped bacon in a large heavy stock pot over medium heat until crisp. Then, remove bacon from the pot with a slotted spoon and drain most of the bacon grease from the pan, leaving about 2-3 tablespoons – sometimes I chop the cooked bacon again before I put it back in the soup if I think it needs to be a little smaller. Add onion and crushed red pepper to pan and cook until slightly browned.

If pan is very dry, add a Tablespoon or 2 of olive oil to pan then add celery, carrots, garlic and the cooked bacon bacon and sauté until veggies are slightly wilted (about 10 minutes).

Add about a cup of chicken broth to the pan to scrape up the brown bits from bottom and then add the rest of the broth to the pan. Once the broth is simmering, add the can of mashed beans and stir to get the mashed beans to “melt” through the broth.

Add the balance of the rinsed beans and the 2 cans of fire roasted diced tomatoes and continue to simmer.

Cook pasta separately (according to package instructions for al dente) then drain it and add to soup (a lot of recipes call for the pasta to be cooked in the soup but I find that it absorbs too much of the soup broth when it is cooked that way).

Simmer soup until flavors meld (20 – 30 minutes). Serve with fresh grated parmesan cheese