My Grandma’s Pasta Fagioli Soup
Ingredients
For the homemade ham stock:
Spiral ham bone: 1, with some meat still attached
Ham bouillon cube: 1 (Knorr or similar)
Water: 10 cups, plus more as needed
For the soup:
Olive oil: 4 tablespoons
Bacon: 1 cup, diced (or pancetta or guanciale; Nonni used bacon because it was more budget-friendly)
Carrots: 1½ cups, diced
Celery: 1½ cups, diced
Yellow onion: 1 medium, diced
Fresh garlic: diced, as many cloves as you like
Tomato paste: about 2 tablespoons, double-concentrated (such as Cento)
Dry white wine: ¼ cup (any inexpensive jug wine works fine)
Ground pork: 1 pound
Petite diced tomatoes: 1 can (14.5 oz)
Crushed tomatoes: ½ cup
Crushed Calabrian chiles in oil: 1 tablespoon
Great northern beans: 1 can, drained and rinsed
Kidney beans: 1 can, drained and rinsed (plus any other beans you love)
Brown sugar: 1½ tablespoons
Dried oregano: 1 tablespoon
Dried basil: ½ tablespoon
Fresh thyme: 1 tablespoon
Fresh parsley: 2 tablespoons, chopped
Homemade ham stock: about 6 cups, plus more as needed
Soppressata: a few chunks, simmered in the soup for flavor
Parmigiano-Reggiano rind: 1
Ditalini pasta: 1½ cups (or any small pasta you have)
Kosher salt and black pepper: to taste
Parmigiano-Reggiano: 1 block, for grating (it has to be the real thing!)
For serving: crusty seeded bread
Instructions
1. Make the ham stock.
Bring 10 cups of water to a boil in a large pot.
Add the ham bone and bouillon cube and let it boil gently for about 3 hours, adding water along the way if needed.
Remove the bone, pull off any remaining ham meat to add to the soup later if you like, and set the stock aside.
2. Cook the vegetables and bacon.
Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.
Add the bacon, carrots, celery, and onion and cook, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft and the bacon is rendered.
3. Add the garlic and tomato paste.
Lower the heat slightly and stir in the garlic and tomato paste.
Cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring, until the paste darkens a bit and smells fragrant.
4. Deglaze with wine.
Raise the heat back to medium and pour in the wine, scraping up all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
5. Brown the pork.
Add the ground pork and cook, breaking it into small pieces, until it’s nearly cooked through.
6. Add the tomatoes, beans, and seasonings.
Stir in the crushed and diced tomatoes, oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, Calabrian chiles, brown sugar, beans, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
Cook for about 2 minutes.
7. Add the stock and simmer.
Pour in the homemade ham stock, then drop in the soppressata chunks and the Parmigiano rind (and any ham you pulled from the bone).
Turn the heat to just above low and let the soup simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Add more stock or a little water whenever it looks too thick; taste as you go.
8. Cook the pasta.
When the soup is almost ready, boil the ditalini in a separate pot until just tender, then drain.
Stir it into the soup and let everything simmer together for about 15 minutes.
9. Finish and serve.
Remove the Parmigiano rind and soppressata chunks.
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.
Ladle into bowls, top with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve with crusty seeded bread.
Grandma liked hers with a chilled glass of sambuca.
Enjoy!