Steamy "Pasta e Fagioli" Italian Tomato Soup + Dreamy Dunkable Dinner Rolls + "Water You Cooking Up?" Flavored Water
Steamy "Pasta e Fagioli" Italian Tomato Soup
"Pasta e fagioli" (FAH-joe-lee) is like a big hug from Nonna! In Naples, Italy, it's called "pasta e fasule," and here in the United States, many people know it as "pasta fazool." This soul-soothing dish lands somewhere between a soup and a stew, brimming with flavorful tomatoes, creamy beans, and tiny, tender pasta. It's the ultimate budget-friendly meal that turns simple pantry staples into something magical—a dish that stretches flavors without stretching your wallet.
Pair it with Dreamy Dunkable Dinner Rolls, and you have the perfect meal for a chilly night. Buon appetito, friends!
Happy & Healthy Cooking,
Shopping List
- FRESH
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 medium carrots
- 2 garlic cloves OR 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 sprig fresh thyme OR 1 tsp ground thyme
- DAIRY AND EGGS
- 1 egg **(see allergy subs below)**
- 1/2 C Parmesan or asiago cheese, optional **(see allergy subs below)**
- PANTRY
- 1/2 C vegetable oil **
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 T tomato paste **(see allergy subs below)**
- 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes **(see allergy subs below)**
- 1 15-oz can cannellini beans **(see allergy subs below)**
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube OR 2 tsp vegetable bouillon base **(see allergy subs below)**
- 1 cup ditalini pasta or other small pasta **(see allergy subs below)**
- 2 T active dry yeast
- 1/4 C granulated sugar
- 3 1/2 C all-purpose or bread flour **(see allergy subs below)**
- 4 tsp Italian seasoning
- 3 tsp garlic powder (2 tsp if using garlic cloves in the soup)
- HAVE ON HAND
- 5 1/4 C water
- "WATER YOU COOKING UP?" FLAVORED WATER (OPTIONAL)
- 4 C water
- 2 C ice
- Choose 1 or more of the following fresh ingredients to flavor your water:
- 1 cucumber
- 1 lime
- 1 lemon
- 1 orange
- 1 mint sprig
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- dice :
to cut foods into small pieces of equal size so that the food is cooked evenly or looks uniform and pleasant when used in the recipe.
- knife skills :
Bear Claw (growl), Pinch, Plank, and Bridge (look out for trolls).
- measure :
to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).
- mirepoix :
pronounced MEER-pwah, a French term for an aromatic blend of diced carrots, celery, and onions that have been slowly sautéed in butter or oil until tender and sweet to add flavor to sauces, soups, stews, and stocks.
- sauté :
to cook or brown food in a pan containing a small quantity of butter, oil, or other fat.
- simmer :
to cook a food gently, usually in a liquid, until softened.
- slice :
to cut into thin pieces using a sawing motion with your knife.
- stir :
to mix together two or more ingredients with a spoon or spatula, usually in a circle pattern, or figure eight, or in whatever direction you like!
Equipment Checklist
- Pitcher
- Cutting board
- Kid-safe knife
- Measuring cups
- Large pot
- Large bowl
- Measuring spoons
- Wooden spoon
- Can opener
- Colander or strainer
- Ladle
- Oven
- Muffin pan (1-2)
- Medium mixing bowl
- Liquid measuring cup
- Dry measuring cups
- Small bowl
- Large mixing bowl
- Clean, dry kitchen towel, paper towel, or plastic wrap
Ingredients
Steamy "Pasta e Fagioli" Italian Tomato Soup
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves OR 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 T vegetable oil **
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 T tomato paste **(for NIGHTSHADE ALLERGY sub pumpkin purée)**
- 1 sprig fresh thyme OR 1 tsp ground thyme
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes **(for NIGHTSHADE ALLERGY sub 1 C diced mushrooms—more info below)**
- 1 15-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed **(for LEGUME ALLERGY sub 1 C diced zucchini—more info below)**
- 1 C ditalini pasta or other small pasta **(for GLUTEN ALLERGY sub gluten-free/nut-free pasta)**
- 4 C water
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube OR 2 tsp vegetable bouillon base **(Check label for possible allergens, like gluten, soy, or nightshade, and omit if necessary)**
Dreamy Dunkable Dinner Rolls
- 1 C + 2 T of warm water
- 1/3 C vegetable oil **
- 2 T active dry yeast
- 1/4 C granulated sugar
- 1 egg **(for EGG ALLERGY sub vegetable oil + water + baking powder—more info below)**
- 1/2 C Parmesan or asiago cheese, optional **(Omit for DAIRY ALLERGY)**
- 3 1/2 C all-purpose or bread flour **(for GLUTEN ALLERGY sub gluten-free/nut-free all-purpose flour + extra sugar + more water—more info below)**
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp garlic powder
"Water You Cooking Up?" Flavored Water
- 4 C water
- 2 C ice
- Choose 1 or more of the following fresh ingredients to flavor your water:
- 1 cucumber
- 1 lime
- 1 lemon
- 1 orange
- 1 mint sprig
Food Allergen Substitutions
Steamy "Pasta e Fagioli" Italian Tomato Soup
- Soy: Substitute canola oil or other nut-free high-smoking point oil for vegetable oil.
- Nightshade: Substitute pumpkin purée for tomato paste. For 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, substitute 1 C diced mushrooms (add to the skillet in step 2).
- Legume: For 1 15-oz can cannellini beans, substitute 1 C diced zucchini (add to the skillet in step 2).
- Gluten/Soy/Nightshade: Check bouillon label for possible allergens and omit if necessary.
- Gluten/Wheat: Substitute gluten-free/nut-free pasta.
Dreamy Dunkable Dinner Rolls
- Soy: Substitute canola oil or other nut-free oil for vegetable oil.
- Egg: For 1 egg, substitute 1 1/2 T vegetable oil + 1 1/2 T water + 1 tsp baking powder.
- Dairy: Omit optional Parmesan or asiago cheese.
- Gluten/Wheat: For 3 1/2 C all-purpose flour, substitute 3 1/2 C gluten-free/nut-free all-purpose flour + 2 extra T sugar + 2 T to 1/4 C more water.
Instructions
Steamy "Pasta e Fagioli" Italian Tomato Soup
intro
"Buongiorno" (Bwohn-jee-OR-noh) or "Good morning" or "Good day" in Italian! Today, we will visit Italy for some "pasta e fagioli" (FAH-joe-lee), which means "pasta and beans" in Italian, the stars of this classic soup. Simmering tomato, white beans, and pasta with a few seasonings is all you need to make a pot of this hearty soup.
measure + chop
Roughly dice 2 celery stalks, 2 medium carrots (kids can also grate the carrots), and 1 medium yellow onion. This combination of vegetables is called a "mirepoix" (MEER-pwah). Place the mirepoix in a large bowl. Also, mince 2 garlic cloves OR measure and add 1 teaspoon of garlic powder and add to the mirepoix. Measure 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and pour into a large pot over medium heat.
sauté + stir
Pour the mirepoix into the hot oil and sauté for 5 minutes. After stirring and sizzling for 5 minutes, measure and add 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 fresh thyme sprig OR 1 teaspoon ground thyme, and 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning. Stir the mixture for another 2 minutes while you do a little counting in Italian: 1 uno (OO-noh), 2 due (DOO-eh), 3 tre (treh), 4 quattro (KWAHT-troh), 5 cinque (CHEEN-kweh), 6 sei (SEH-ee), 7 sette (SET-teh), 8 otto (OHT-toh), 9 nove (NOH-veh), 10 dieci (dee-EH-chee).
superstar food spotlight
What exactly is "mirepoix" (MEER-pwah)? Mirepoix, simply put, is carrots, onion, and celery, but really, this mixture is the base of most soups and sauces. Mirepoix was named after the town of Mirepoix, France. A chef of Duke Gaston Pierre de Lévis, an 18th-century French aristocrat who governed the town, created the aromatic trinity food. This French concoction of flavors has lasted the test of time and is still used in restaurant and home kitchens to this day.
pour + simmer
Drain and rinse 1 can of diced tomatoes and 1 can of cannellini beans. Measure 1 cup ditalini pasta, 4 cups water, and 1 vegetable bouillon cube. Add the tomatoes, beans, water, and bouillon into the pot with the mirepoix. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
season + serve
After simmering for at least 15 minutes, taste the soup for flavor. If needed, add salt or pepper to adjust the flavor to your liking. Scoop the soup with a ladle and pour into bowls. Serve alongside your favorite bread or Dreamy Dunkable Dinner Rolls. Eat and Enjoy! "Ciao" (Chow) or "Goodbye" in Italian!
Dreamy Dunkable Dinner Rolls
preheat + measure + mix + rest
Preheat the oven to 400 F. To a mixing bowl, measure and mix together 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water, 1/3 cup oil, 2 tablespoons active dry yeast, and 1/4 cup sugar. Allow this mixture to rest, covered, for at least 15 minutes.
scrumptious science
Even though yeast looks like large grains of sand, it is actually a living organism. Yeast is a label broadly used to describe about 1,500 different kinds of fungi. This means that yeast makes up about one percent of the fungus you would come across in the world. The type we are using today is called active dry yeast. It means that the yeast is alive but sleeping in its container. To "wake up" the yeast, you will need to feed it its favorite breakfast: sugar! Once the yeast begins eating the sugar, it creates a byproduct: carbon dioxide. (I like to think of the yeast as burping little, itty bitty burps from eating the sugar too fast!) This carbon dioxide will later be trapped inside the naan dough you are creating in this recipe, which is super important for making a light, fluffy texture.
crack + whisk + add
Crack 1 egg and whisk it in a bowl. Add whisked egg to the yeast mixture. Add 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Measure 3 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, and 2 teaspoons garlic powder together in a separate mixing bowl. Add the dry ingredients 1/2 cup at a time to the wet ingredients, mixing well after each addition to form a dough.
rest + oil + bake
Let dough rest, covered, for 5 to 20 more minutes. Brush two muffin pans with oil. Then shape the dough into 24 balls and nestle one into each well of the muffin pan. Bake until bread rolls rise and are golden brown on top, about 15 to 20 minutes.
"Water You Cooking Up?" Flavored Water
chop + measure + stir
Choose the flavor of water you will be making. Simply slice whatever fresh ingredients you chose and place them into a pitcher. Measure and add 4 cups of water and 2 cups of ice. Stir a few times and then serve.
Hi! I’m Tomato!
"I'm a beautiful, juicy red Tomato. Do you pronounce my name: "tuh-may-tow" or "tuh-mah-tow?" Either way you slice it (or say it), we tomatoes are wonderfully adaptable. You'll find us fresh or cooked on sandwiches, in salads, tacos, soups, stews, sauces, and much more."
History & Etymology
- The tomatoes we have now descended from the pea-size fruit of wild plants that grew in western South America. Mesoamericans were the first to domesticate the tomato plant sometime before 500 BCE.
- Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador, may have brought tomatoes back to Europe in the 16th century after conquering the Aztec city, Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City).
- Tomatoes cultivated in North American colonies in the early 1700s may have been introduced from the Caribbean. Thomas Jefferson also brought tomato seeds back from France. Before tomatoes were used in cooking, the plants were used ornamentally due to some people's beliefs that they were poisonous. One reason for this error was that tomatoes come from the nightshade family, including the belladonna plant (or deadly nightshade), which has highly toxic leaves and berries. Another reason may be that the pewter plates they used back then adversely reacted to the acid in tomato juice.
- China is by far the largest producer of tomatoes in the world. In the United States, California and Florida produce the most tomatoes.
- The American and British pronunciations of "tomato" were made famous by an Ira and George Gershwin song from 1937 called "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Americans pronounce the word "tuh-may-tow," and the British say "tuh-mah-tow."
- The word "tomato" comes from the Spanish, French, or Portuguese "tomate," from the Nahuatl "tomatl."
Anatomy
- The tomato is a berry from the tomato plant (Solanum Lycopersicum), a perennial vine. It is part of the Solanaceae family, like the potato, pepper, eggplant, and petunia. Since it is a berry, it is a fruit, although mainly used as a vegetable.
- A tomato's color is usually red but can also be yellow, orange, green, or purple. Tomatoes can be spherical, oval, or pear-shaped. Their flesh is pulpy with cavities, called locules, that hold the seeds.
- There are more than 10,000 tomato varieties. Some are hybrids, and some are heirlooms. An heirloom tomato is a variety that has been grown for generations on a family farm rather than commercially. Unfortunately, in the past 40 years, many heirloom varieties have been lost, along with the smaller family farms that grew them. However, hundreds of heirloom tomato varieties are still available.
How to Pick, Buy, & Eat
- If you are growing your own tomatoes, pick them from the vine while still firm, with a slight give, and before their ripe color (usually red) deepens too much. While holding the fruit, twist it off the stem until it snaps off. The leaf on top of the tomato (the calyx) and part of the stem will come with it. You can also snip it off using garden scissors.
- When you choose tomatoes at the store, pick fruit that has smooth, brightly colored skin with no cracks or bruises, is firm but gives with slight pressure, is heavy for its size, and has a pleasant, aromatic smell. Avoid tomatoes with pale or dark spots.
- Store tomatoes at room temperature, as their flavor will decrease in a refrigerator's cold temperature. Wait to wash them until you are ready to use them.
- If you plan to make a tomato sauce or soup using fresh, raw tomatoes, you will want to peel them first. This can be difficult without some preparation: First, put a pot of water on the stove to boil and fill a large bowl with cold or icy water. Next, after washing the tomatoes, use your knife to cut a shallow 'X' through the skin at the top or bottom of each one. Then use a slotted spoon to place the tomatoes into the boiling water until the skin begins to loosen and peel back at the incision, about 30 to 60 seconds. Finally, immediately dunk them into the ice water. The skin should peel easily now. You can also remove the seeds by cutting the peeled tomatoes in half and scooping the seeds out with a spoon.
- Tomatoes are versatile vegetables for cooking. Ripe tomatoes can be prepared fresh, stuffed, baked, boiled, or stewed, and they are the base for many sauces. You can also pickle green, unripe tomatoes, add them to salsa or bread and fry them.
Nutrition
- Tomatoes are a moderate source of vitamin C, and cooked tomatoes are high in lycopene, an antioxidant, which may help protect your body's cells from damage, strengthen your immune system, and prevent some diseases.
What is "Pasta e Fagioli"?
- "Pasta e fagioli" (FAH-joe-lee) is an Italian soup that includes pasta and beans ("fagioli"). It may be a thin soup or thick, more like a stew. The soup is typically the first course of a full Italian dinner, but it can be served as a main course with salad and bread.
- Small pasta like ditalini, shell, or elbow macaroni and beans like cannellini or Borlotti beans can be used. Other ingredients in the soup may include garlic, olive oil, onion, carrot, celery, and stewed tomatoes, and vegetable stock. Meat is sometimes added in the form of bacon, ground beef, pancetta, or Italian sausage. Variations exist according to the region of Italy and the availability of ingredients.
Let's Learn About Italy!
- Italy became a unified country in 1861, only 150 years ago. It is sometimes called "bel paese" or "beautiful country."
- Italians invented the piano and the thermometer!
- In ancient Roman mythology, two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome, Italy's capital city. The myth says the twins were abandoned and then discovered by a she-wolf before being found and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Eventually (and after many exciting adventures), they found themselves at the location of Palatine Hill, where Romulus built "Roma." The Italian wolf became Italy's unofficial national animal.
- In the 1930s and 40s, Mussolini, Italy's prime minister, and dictator tried to eliminate all foreign words from the Italian language. How did he do that? He just changed them! For example, in soccer, "goal" became "meta." Disney character names changed, too: Donald Duck became "Paperino;" Mickey Mouse became "Topolino;" and Goofy became "Pippo." Although they're not banned anymore, these words and names have stuck. So now if you go to the Italian Disneyland, called Gardaland Park, you will see Topolino and Pippo!
- About 60 million people call Italy home, and it is 116,350 square miles, slightly larger than the US state of Arizona. If you compare that to the United Kingdom, 67 million people live there, and it is about 94,350 square miles. So, the UK is smaller than Italy but has a bigger population!
- The Italian flag is green, white, and red. These colors represent hope, faith, and charity.
- The average Italian eats close to 55 pounds of pasta annually. If you think about how light pasta is, that is a considerable amount! There are more than 500 different types of pasta eaten in Italy today.
What's It Like to Be a Kid in Italy?
- Kids begin school at 6 years old. They grow up speaking Italian, but they learn English in school, so many become bilingual in Italian and English.
- The most popular sport for kids is football (soccer). The Italian word for soccer is "calcio," the same word they use for "kick." A favorite of younger kids is "Rody, the bouncing horse," a plastic horse that a small child can hop onto and bounce around the room. Rody was invented in Italy in 1984.
- The family ("la famiglia") is a central characteristic of Italian life. Children have great respect for their older relatives. It is traditional to name the first male child after the grandfather and the first female child after the grandmother.
- If kids live close to school, they can go home and have lunch with their families! Lunch at school might be pasta, meat with vegetables, a sandwich, or a salad with lots of ingredients. Families typically eat dinner later (7 to 8 pm), so kids end up staying up later, too!
- Between lunch and dinner, kids often enjoy "merenda," which is an afternoon snack that translates to "something that is deserved." It is really a mini-meal that can include both savory and sweet foods. Examples of savory foods are a salami or mortadella sandwich, a slice of rustic bread rubbed with a cut, raw tomato, or "pizza bianca" (white pizza without tomato sauce). Types of sweet foods eaten during merenda are "gelato" (a lower-fat type of ice cream), any kind of cake, or biscotti dipped in warm milk.
THYME for a Laugh
Drinking water is so popular, but I don’t really get the hype.
Maybe it’s just too mainstream!
Lettuce Joke Around
Flight attendant: "What would you like to drink?"
Passenger: "Water"
Flight attendant: "Still?"
Passenger: "Well, I haven’t changed my mind …"
That's Berry Funny
Why did the tomato blush?
Because he saw the salad dressing!
Lettuce Joke Around
What did the yeast say to the bag of flour?
Come on, we knead to be serious!
The Yolk's On You
What did the bottled water tell the spy?
"The name's Bond, Hydrogen Bond."
That's Berry Funny
What bean is the most intelligent?
The Human Bean!
The Yolk's On You
What is the best way to cool a hot soup?
Add a chilly pepper!
THYME for a Laugh
Where do beans go on holiday?
The Carib-bean!
THYME for a Laugh
What are Sticky Fingers Cooking students called?
Souperstars!
