Italian Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta Fazool) Soup at Olive Garden in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
Pasta e fagioli soup is stand-by dish at the Olive Garden in Salinas, California that is not too expensive and full of protein. Pasta e fagioli is similar to the chili mac that I made as a teenager in very cold Detroit (Michigan) with the difference that chili is made with all red kidney beans and flavored with smoky cayenne red pepper. I credit chili mac with being to withstand subzero walks to school in Detroit.
Pasta e fagioli is soup with a thinner liquid base than a chili, but is loaded with lots of nutritious ingredients.
I consulted a recipe for one similar to Olive Garden’s at wellplated.com that calls for:
-olive oil
-ground beef
-salt
-carrots
-onions
-garlic
-chicken broth
-crushed, canned tomatoes
-red kidney beans
-cannellini beans
-seasonings – bay leaf, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and red pepper flakes
To make the soup like the one at Olive Garden, you brown the ground beef till it is no longer pink. You add chopped carrots, onion, and garlic and cook them till soft. Olive Garden might also use chopped fennel stalks for a slight licorice or anise flavor in their soup.
Once the vegetables are sot, you add the crushed tomatoes, canned red kidney beans, canned cannellini beans, and pasta such as elbow macaroni.
The seasoning in pasta e fagioli is savory not spicy hot, which I like.
The pasta e fagioli at Olive Garden is tasty as we would say in the Midwestern US. My daughter Florence Paget and I ordered ½ gallon of the soup that cost $19.79. We also ordered mozzarella sticks (8 for $9.99) and garlic bread sticks (12 for $7.49). Grated Parmesan cheese came with this meal for the soup.
For a weekend lunch, I think these prices are reasonable for the taste and nutrition content of the food we ate.
Busy parents might especially like pasta e fagioli soup, mozzarella sticks, and garlic bread at Olive Garden in Salinas, California (on North Main Street).
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
