Pasta e Fagioli

This is one of my favorite Italian dishes... It's got everything delicious: beans, garlic, bacon, onion, pasta -- It's really hard to go wrong. Unless you're my grandmother. She takes this dish in a completely different direction. She uses Boston baked beans and some kind of tomato sauce... very strange. But this recipe is not red: I don't believe in red pasta e fagioli.

What You'll Need:

• quarter package bacon, chopped
• diced onion
• chopped carrots
• chopped garlic
• chopped celery
• olive oil/butter
• red kidney beans
• cannelini beans
• chicken broth
• sage
• basil
• bay leaves
• elbow macaroni 

Put it All Together:

• Heat a skillet and add bacon first. Cook it for just a minute or two, to give it a head start. Then add some olive oil and a little bit of butter, onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Allow vegetables to soften.
• Sprinkle a bunch of sage over veggies, black pepper, 2 bay leaves and a few basil leaves torn up.
• Take about a half cup of red kidney beans and half a cup of cannelini beans and puree them -- this will make the "soup" thicker. (I used an immersion blender because it's all I have and it's super easy.) Add chicken broth, beans and bean... mush. Bring it all to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

• Add about 1/3 to a half box of elbow macaroni and cook until they reach desired tenderness. (I like more pasta and cooked really well... makes it less soupy and more dense.)
• Serve with grated cheese on top.

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