Pasta Fagioli...or how to eat like you can afford to.

So what exactly is Pasta Fagioli. It's peasant food. Or my favorite term: Farm Food! (thank you Kim) A big ol' bowl of something hot and flavorful that doesn't cost a lot of money! I don't know about you but I'm all for cheap flavorful food. Let's eat like we can afford to! Now, like everything else I do, this only skirts the guidelines of the traditional Pasta Fagioli. (By the way Fagioli is itailian for bean) So we are making pasta and bean soup. Remember for all you seasoned chefs out there, this site is all about instruction so we go slow and in depth, I assume the person I'm talking to is total newbie when it comes to cooking. Here we go!
I start this soup like I start every other soup, with a good stock. I don't mean get crazy and roast beef bones in the oven and then and simmer in water on the stove for 4 days and strain. Who has the time for all of that? Not me! This soup is what you do after you've made that fantastic roast for dinner and you have all of this great broth in the pan.
You will need:
A roast
Lipton Beefy Onion soup
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Veggies (celery, onion, carrot)
Make roast in the oven, not the crockpot this taste better if it's roasted in the dry heat of an oven-Don't worry you can do this!
-Take a roast, preferably a chuck roast, but whatever you have is fine. Put it in an oven bag, you know the kind you roast turkey's in? It's in the aluminum foil isle. Put your roast into the bag after you've rinsed it well. Season well, salt,pepper,garlic powder,onion powder however much you want. And here is where you can put well rinsed celery, carrots, onion, in if you want to, it adds to the flavor of the broth. (yum!) And add an envelope of  lipton beefy onion dry soup mix.(Yeah, lipton soup is your grandma's secret weapon) This can be salty so watch your salt. Add about a cup of water, you can add more but not much. You are not trying to make soup just a flavorful broth. Tie the bag and bake it in the oven on 300 for about 1 hr and 1/2 depending on how big your roast is.The nice thing about the bag is it keeps the meat moist so you almost can't mess this up! I like recipes like this.
-OK dinner is done and the roast was wonderful. You are amazing! Now your are in the kitchen cleaning up and you have this stuff left in the bottom of the bag. What to do? Pasta Fagioli! Why is this different from traditional pasta fagioli? Well I have no veggies in the soup, and most of them don't start with leftover roast gravy.
What you'll need-
1-16oz box of pasta-shells, elbows, rigatoni whatever, as long as it's on the small size. (Try to catch the pasta on sale and stock up for just such an occasion as this)
Cook your pasta according to the directions, drain-do not rinse in a colander. Put in a bowl with a little olive oil or butter. ( not much)
 1-Large can of tomato sauce, or small can of tomato paste and small can sauce, crushed tomatoes. Whatever you have. Catch the sale at the grocery store..you can even use  leftover spagetti sauce if you have it. Or crushed tomatoes, whatever you have on hand..tomato soup? Why not?
1-can of beans- once again, whatever you have on hand. I would stay away from chick peas-because they have a strong flavor and fava,or seasoned black beans. And definitely stay away from that can of baked beans in the back of your pantry. You want a plain unseasoned can of kidney or navy or white lima something not overpowering.
1-container good beef broth (no cubes please)
Okay we're in the home stretch
Make sure your hands are clean and cut up the leftover roast put it aside.
Put a colander (it's what you drain spagetti in) Hey someone had to tell me! Anyway put this over/in a large clean bowl. Pour all of your broth, veggies everything in the colander. The stuff in the pan is what goes in the colander. It's purpose is to catch the broth and leave all the big pieces. Pick out usable meat and toss everything else. Trust me those veggies gave their lives for a worthy cause!
Okay, the rest of this is easy. You might not have much liquid from the pan, but no matter. Pour it into a pot, add your tomato sauce, 2 cups beef broth and your pasta, beans and meat. Simmer until all is incorporated. Taste.. Hmm..correct your seasoning. It should taste like a rich and tomatoey(is this a word?) broth. Well seasoned but not overpowering. Here's where you trust your instincts. What does it need? More garlic, more tomato sauce? Italian seasoning is nice. Remember this should taste like it is an Italian soup. Taste it again, is it better? Remember, you are not trying to compete with your friends mama's soup. This is your interpretation of an Italian classic. Does it taste good? Eat something sweet and taste it again, sometimes you can't taste the difference in the flavor because your taste buds are overworked!
oops!
Is it over seasoned?
We can fix it. Make more pasta, bigger pasta this time and dump the "soup" in with the pasta.Now you have a pasta ragu. (in other words your tomato sauce has meat in it).No longer soup, now it's noodles and sauce! We can try for the soup another day. The important thing is you have made something wonderful out of very simple ingredients, Serve your Ragu with some garlic bread and enjoy. Take a bow!