Pasta e Faggioli

Dinner number two from Tastespotting this week: Pasta e Faggioli. Boise is currently seeing more of winter weather than spring, so soup season is still in full force. This soup is divine, hearty, and comforting. The only changes I made include omitting the rosemary (didn't have any on hand), using fresh thyme rather than dried, and I used De Cecco stellette pasta because who doesn't want darling little pasta stars floating in their soup?

If you are considering, even for a moment, using canned beans just forget about it. Dried beans are a must. Put them out to soak today and make this tomorrow. It takes a good 2 hours to simmer (I added more stock during the simmering because my beans soaked up a lot of liquid) and is the perfect soup to have cooking when you are getting other things done at home. \

Pasta e Faggioli (adapted from the link above)

Ingredients
1/2 tsp dried thyme or 3 sprigs fresh thyme (remove when soup has finished cooking if using fresh)
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large chopped onion
3 celery stalks chopped
4 cloves smashed garlic
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes
1 cup white cannellini beans dried
2 - 3 cups chicken stock
8 oz Ditalini or Stellette pasta
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
parmigiano reggiano rind

Directions:
Soak beans overnight in 3 cups of water.Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and butter in a heavy large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and garlic and saute until the onion is tender. Open pealed tomatoes and smash or cut or chop tomatoes. Add the broth, tomatoes, cheese rind, beans (drained), and herbs. Salt to taste and pepper to taste. I like to use quite a bit of pepper! Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to low simmer until the beans are soft (about 2 hours). Stir occasionally.
Add 8 ounces of pasta, stir in pasta so it does not stick to saucepan. Cover and simmer for about 8 minutes until pasta is al dente. Remove bay leaves and cheese rind.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with some Parmesan and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil just before serving if desired. Serve with good bread.