Pasta e Fagioli, revisited

I've already made this soup and blogged about it, but back then my picture taking skills weren't all that great, and also the recipe was by weight and I wanted to nail down the ingredients better. So for the first chilly weekend of Fall here I knew I wanted to make it again in my new dutch oven. It was definitely not as much of a chore to make since I wasn't so focused on getting exact weights of the ingredients. This recipe is scaled down to make 4.5 quarts, but I definitely needed my 7 quart pot to cook it in.

PASTA e FAGIOLI (copy cat Olive Garden)

Source: adapted from cdkitchen

a drizzle of olive oil

1 lb. ground beef

1 small onion, diced

1/2 of a small 1 lb. bag of baby carrots, chopped

5 stalks of celery, diced

2 (14.5 oz.) cans of diced tomatoes

1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (32 oz.) carton + 1 (14.5 oz.) can of beef broth

1 1/2 tsp oregano

1 1/4 tsp pepper

2 1/2 tsp fresh parsley, chopped (I used dry)

3/4 tsp tabasco sauce

1 jar (1 lb. 10 oz.) spaghetti sauce (I use Ragu)

1 cup dry small pasta (such as ditalini or elbow macaroni)

salt to taste

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1. Brown ground beef in oil. Drain if necessary.

2. Add onion, carrot, celery and diced tomatoes. Simmer 10 minutes.

3. Add beans, beef broth, oregano, pepper, parsley, tabasco sauce and spaghetti sauce.

4. Simmer soup on low for about 30-45 minutes until carrots are almost tender.

5. Add pasta to pot and simmer on low for about 15-30 minutes until pasta is just shy of al dente. As the soup cools, the pasta will absorb the broth. You can cook the pasta separate and add it to the soup after the soup has cooled.