Don’t you hate when you have almost all of the ingredients for something you want to make but are missing like 2 or 3 of the most important ones? I had this happen recently when I wanted to make Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta Bean Soup) but I was missing the Pancetta and the Cannellini beans. I was in a bit of a pickle until I realized I had regular bacon and pinto beans. Then I had the idea–why not make a Southwest version of the classic Italian Pasta e Fagioli (that’s Fajh-oh-lee) soup? Well, this is not exactly your grandmother’s pasta bean soup but it has a lot of the same elements of the traditional recipe. It’s made with almost exactly the same format as my recipe found here. There are a few choice differences though as the flavor of the bacon provides a smokier flavor than the pancetta. Instead of rosemary I used fresh sage and dried basil for the herbs. Instead of Ditalini pasta I opted for Gemelli since I had some of that laying around. It worked out nicely!
It’s funny how just a few ingredient changes transformed the recipe into something totally different. I still went with parmesan cheese as the garnish but you could probably use a white cheddar instead. I added about the same amount of red pepper to the recipe but adding another 1/2 teaspoon would really give this an extra oomph of heat. I loved the way these small changes did so much to change the recipe and it’s become one of my regular favorites!
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