Sausage pasta fagioli

Photo: Sip and Feast

The soup every red-sauce place in New Jersey has on the menu, made better. Sausage, two kinds of beans, a Parmigiano rind, penne.

From Tara and James Rugnetta at Sip and Feast · @sipandfeast

Italian sausage, garlic and onion with cannellini and butter beans, a few crushed plum tomatoes, a Parmigiano rind and penne.

You need

• 4 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 lb bulk Italian sausage
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 can (16 oz) cannellini beans, drained (not rinsed)
• 2 cans (16 oz each) butter (lima) beans, drained (not rinsed)
• 6 cups water, plus more as needed
• 3 canned plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 8 oz penne
• 1 Parmigiano rind (optional)
• Salt and pepper
• Grated Parmigiano, to serve

How to make it

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Brown the sausage, breaking it up, then lift it out.
2. Add the rest of the oil, the garlic, onion and pepper flakes and cook until soft, 5 minutes.
3. Add both beans and mash a few of them against the pot to thicken the soup. Pour in the water, the crushed tomatoes and the Parmigiano rind, and return the sausage.
4. Simmer 15 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.
5. Add the penne and cook until al dente, stirring and adding water as the pasta soaks it up. It should be thick but still a soup.
6. Remove the rind and serve with grated cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

Written in our own words from Tara and James Rugnetta's recipe, with their quantities. The original: Sausage pasta fagioli, Sip and Feast.

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