Pasta Fagioli

         Prep time 10 minutes              cook time 35 minutes                   6 serves

Pasta Fagioli here we come!

Hi everyone, and especially to my friends overseas,  who are "enjoying" a freezing cold winter.  Pasta Fagioli is the perfect one pot meal for a weekend dinner and for those chilly days, easy and quick to make and low on the budget strings. 

I guarantee, this recipe will not only warm the cockles of your heart it will put a satisfying smile on your family's faces.                                           .  

Ingredients for Pasta Fagioli

Okey Dokey we will need the following ingredients to create this heart warming dish

• 1 large deep pot.
• 2Tbsp. Olive oil.
• 2 Medium yellow onions peeled and chopped.
  
• 4 Cloves Garlic peeled and minced
  
• 1 medium size carrot diced
  
• 1 celery stalk diced.
  
• 2 Bay leaves.
  
• 3 x 400ml(14.5oz) cans chopped tomatoes.
  
• 2 x 400 ml (14.5 oz.) cans Cannellini beans drained.
• 800ml(14.5oz)  cans vegetable broth.
• 3 Tbsp.Worchester sauce
  
• 1 tsp. basil.
  
• 1 tsp. thyme.
• ½ tsp dried Rosemary. 
• 1 cup Ditalini or any other small pasta.
  
• 1 small Parmesan cheese rind(optional)
  
• ¼ tsp. chopped flat leaf Parsley.
• Dash crushed red pepper.
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
  
•  Tbsp Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving (again optional).
  

Method

Still with us ? Great now that we have all the ingredients in front of us to create this heart warming meal, its that time again wait for it

                                             Its "Time to Start A Cooking"

• Place your large deep pot on the hob heat the Olive oil
• Add onions, carrots,celery and sauté's until soft,+ - 4 minutes.
• Add Garlic and stir
• Cook for another 2 minutes taking care not to burn the ingredients.
• Add bay leaves.
• Add in your canned Tomatoes, Vegetables broth and beans.
• Stir in the Basil, Thyme Rosemary and crushed red pepper.
• Season with salt and black pepper.
• Pour in the Worchester sauce.
  
• Simmer for appreciably15 minutes.
  
• Add Pasta and turn heat up to medium.
• Cook for about 8 to 10minutes until pasta is soft.
• Stir in Parsley, remove bay leaves and Parmesan rind.
• For those of us that enjoy a little kick add some Tabaco sauce.
  
  Voila you have just completed a classic mouthwatering meal ,once tasted never wasted.
  You deserve to sit back put your feet up,relax and enjoy a glass of beverage of your choice.
  

Plating

Below are just a few ways of serving this great Pasta soup,

• Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese(or any grated cheese of your choice)
  
• Goes great with crusty bread.
• Any fresh bread rolls.
• Bread sticks.
  
• With Garlic Bread.
• Corn bread.
  
• Just on Its own.
  
                                                  Bon Appetit  .
  

This article was printed from Home-Cooking-Haven.com.com

Oven Temperatures

Cooking Terms and Tips

Al Dente: Usually applied to Pasta, means cooked until just done, but not soft. The pasta should still maintain some "bite:

Barbeque:  To cook foods over coals, known as a Braai in South Africa (The best in the world for this type of cooking).

Baste: To moisten food for added flavor and to prevent drying out while cooking.

Blanch: To cook briefly in boiling water to seal in flavour and color.

Bouquet Garni: A tied bundle of herbs, usually parsley, thyme, and bay leaves that are added to flavor soups, stews, and sauces but removed before serving.

Braise: Two cook first by browning, then gently simmer till done.

Bread: To coat with crumbs or cornmeal before cooking.

Broil: To cook on a rack or spit during or over direct heat, usually in an on top

Brown: Two cook over high heat, usually on top of the stove, to brown food..

Caremelize: To Heat sugar until it liquefies and becomes a syrup.

Core: To remove the seeds or tough woody centers from fruits and vegetables.

Cream: The butterfat portion of milk.   Also to beat ingredients, sually sugar and a fat, until smooth and fluffy.

Cube: To cut foot into small  ½ inch cubes.

Cut In: To distribute a solid fat in flour using a cutting motion, with 2 knives used scissors-fashion or a pastry blender, until divided evenly into tiny pieces.  Usually refers to naking pastry.

Croutons: These are tiny cubes of toasted or fried bread, used as a garnish for

Coriander:  Also known as Dhania

Dollop: A spoonful of soft food such as whipped cream or mashed potatoes.

Dot: To scatter butter in bits over food.

Dress: To coat foods such as salad with a sauce.  Also, to clean fish, poultry or game for cooking.

Drippings: Juices and fats rendered by meat or poultry while cooking.

Drizzle: To pour melted butter, oil, syrup, melted chocolate, or other liquid back and forth over food in a fine stream.

Experiment:   Always keep to the basics, but, take out and put in spices etc to your tastes.

Fines Herbs: A mixture of herbs, normally parsley, chervil, chives and tarragon used to flavour fish, chicken and eggs.

Glace: To coat foods with glossy mixtures such as jellies or sauces.

Julienne: To cut into long thin strips match-sticklike in shape

Macerate: To soak in flavoured liquid; usually refers to fruit

Picked Over:  If you are working with lentils or other beans you might sometimes find a few little rocks that managed to sneak their way in, picked over means to make sure there are none left in what you are going to be using.

Poach: To cook gently over very low heat  ib barely simmering liquid just to cover.

Puree: To mash or grind food until completely smooth. usually in a food processor, blender, sieve, or food mill.

Ragout:  The basic method of preparation involves slow cooking over a low heat.

Reduce: To thicken a liquid and concentrate its flavor by boiling.

Render: To cook fatty meat or poultry - such as bacon or goose - over low heat to obtain drippings.

Sear:  To brown surface of meat quickly over a high heat, to seal in juices.

Simmer: To cook in liquid at just below boiling point, with only a few bubbles breaking the surface.

Skim:  To remove surface foam or fat from a liquid

Seep:  To soak in a  liquid just under the boiling point to extract the essence i.e. Tea.

Truss: To tie whole poultry with skin or skewers so it will hold its shape in cooking.

Whip: To beat eggs or cream with a wire whisk, egg beater or electric mixer which increases the volume as air is incorporated into the eggs or cream

Zest: The outer, colored part of the peel of citrus fruits.

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