Pasta e Fagioli

Which is just a fancy Italian name for what is basically just pasta and beans!!

After watching Lidia of Italy on PBS this past weekend and drooling over her pasta e fagioli Cla and I decided that we must try our hand at it. So yesterday I gathered the ingredients and got to work.

It was remarkably easy, quite hearty, and VERY yummy.

Here is the recipe I came up with (a cross between our own tastes and a recipe I dug up online):

2 large cans of diced tomatos with olive oil, oregano, basil (next time I will use one can of the tomatos and one can puree because I just don't like that many tomatos)

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 cloves garlic (I use minced garlic and just put in a table spoon or two)

1 carton of chicken broth

1 can white kidney beans (canellini beans) drained

1 can regular kidney beans drained

1 cup red wine

spices to taste (I put in a few pinches cayenne pepper, black pepper, thyme)

1 box of any small cut of pasta (I used elbows)

grated parmesan cheese

Brown garlic in the olive oil. Add the tomatos, broth, wine and spices. Let simmer for a half hour. Add beans and let simmer for however long you like. Mine went for a few hours. When you are ready to eat add pasta to the sauce and turn heat up to get a good boil. The pasta will thicken the sauce a little so you might need to add a little extra water or broth when you put the pasta in. When the pasta is tender add some grated parmesan and serve it up! We had it with some garlic bread and it was GREAT!!!

Enjoy!