(My husband Jim took this picture for me when I served this dish.)

I recently went to Olive Garden and had this delightful soup.  The name means pasta with beans, and it was a peasant dish in Italy, made from leftover pasta and marinara sauce.  I decided it couldn’t be that hard to make, and so delicious, so I looked at a bunch of recipes online until I found one from www.cdkitchen.com, which claimed to be a copycat of the Olive Garden recipe.  Their recipe makes 9 quarts of soup, and I didn’t want to make that much; plus, I found another recipe that used diced ham (the Olive Garden soup had ground beef) and I thought I’d like that even better.  So, here’s my version of the Olive Garden copycat version!

2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 cup chopped sweet onion

1 cup sliced baby carrots

1 cup diced celery

24 oz. (more or less) of diced, canned tomatoes

1 cup canned red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup canned Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained

 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock

1 1/2 tsp. oregano

3/4 tsp. pepper

1 Tbsp. parsley flakes

3/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce

24-26 oz. jar of spaghetti sauce, any kind you like, but marinara probably works best, or at least something without meat or big chunks of other vegetables

4 oz. of dry pasta (I used elbow macaroni, Barilla Plus)

16 oz. ham, diced into small cubes

grated parmesan cheese (to serve sprinkled on top when served)

Saute the garlic, onions, carrots, and celery in oil until onions are transluscent.  Add the canned tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, chicken stock, and spices and herbs.  Rinse and drain the beans before adding.  Add the Tabasco sauce.  Add the dry pasta.  Cover and simmer about 20 minutes.  Add the diced ham and simmer for another 20-25 minutes. 

Serve with grated parmesan cheese on top.  A salad and some toasted garlic bread make this a complete meal!

Note:  If you’ve heard of a dish called pasta “fazul,” as in the song “It’s Amore,” this is the same dish.  The word “fazul” was the result of first generation immigrants mispronouncing “fagioli,” pronounced:  fah- Jool’ - ee.