monj kindly posted ATK version of this dish
recipeswap.org
and I tried it with bacon, with pancetta, and finally the way my mother made it.
First off...ATK specified a few conditions:
Holy moley...that dish was wonderful! That made me wonder if using the specified ingredients would make a difference. Found Boars Head pancetta at Publix for $14.99/lb, which gave me serious pause, but I went ahead. The recipe calls for 2 oz, but that would have been almost impossible to cut since the meat is very dense, so I ended up with a $9 piece of meat. Then I went for more beans. I hadn't realized cannellini were also known as "white kidney beans" and I'm not a fan of kidney beans AT ALL, so I opted again to puree a can of cannellini and used whole Navy Beans for the second batch.
Again, the dish is wonderful...but definitely more expensive to make. Plus I had to use boxed chicken broth and it was in no way comparable to mine. I added two teaspoons of Better Than Broth chicken paste to augment the flavor.
Finally, just to see if my memory of my mother's pasta fazoole (aka cheap dinner) was as bad as remembered, I made a small sample using her methods. I burned a diced onion, squeezed in tomato paste, added macaroni noodles and--as a final horror--stirred in RED KIDNEY BEANS.
[uuggh]. Still as bad as I remember. Even the smell made me gag.
All in all, I'm quite happy using bacon for this dish. Or else I'll buy the 4 oz pre-chopped pancetta at Trader Joes, as my taste buds aren't that sophisticated to pay extra $$ for chunk pancetta.
I now have 8 cups of dense soup which I'll portion out and then cook up pasta or orzo and portion that out too to pop into the freezer.
Thanks monj...I'll be enjoying this for a while.
REC: Pasta Fagioli Soup
Hi Marilyn, I have gifted the link (it only lasts for 30 days, and I have also included the PDF of the recipe. My notes: I use the food processor to chop the vegetables before processing the beans. I usually add a parmesan rind (in cheesecloth) while making the soup. I have found if I don't...
recipeswap.org
and I tried it with bacon, with pancetta, and finally the way my mother made it.
First off...ATK specified a few conditions:
- chunk of pancetta from the deli rather than the pre-chopped packaged version
- pancetta rather than bacon (to avoid the smokiness)
- good Parmesan cheese
- fresh basil
- 2 cans of cannellini beans
- ditalini pasta
Holy moley...that dish was wonderful! That made me wonder if using the specified ingredients would make a difference. Found Boars Head pancetta at Publix for $14.99/lb, which gave me serious pause, but I went ahead. The recipe calls for 2 oz, but that would have been almost impossible to cut since the meat is very dense, so I ended up with a $9 piece of meat. Then I went for more beans. I hadn't realized cannellini were also known as "white kidney beans" and I'm not a fan of kidney beans AT ALL, so I opted again to puree a can of cannellini and used whole Navy Beans for the second batch.
Again, the dish is wonderful...but definitely more expensive to make. Plus I had to use boxed chicken broth and it was in no way comparable to mine. I added two teaspoons of Better Than Broth chicken paste to augment the flavor.
Finally, just to see if my memory of my mother's pasta fazoole (aka cheap dinner) was as bad as remembered, I made a small sample using her methods. I burned a diced onion, squeezed in tomato paste, added macaroni noodles and--as a final horror--stirred in RED KIDNEY BEANS.
[uuggh]. Still as bad as I remember. Even the smell made me gag.
All in all, I'm quite happy using bacon for this dish. Or else I'll buy the 4 oz pre-chopped pancetta at Trader Joes, as my taste buds aren't that sophisticated to pay extra $$ for chunk pancetta.
I now have 8 cups of dense soup which I'll portion out and then cook up pasta or orzo and portion that out too to pop into the freezer.
Thanks monj...I'll be enjoying this for a while.
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