MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

Title: Olive Garden Pasta E Fagioli
Categories: Copycat, Soups
Yield: 8 Servings

1 lb Ground beef
1 sm Onion (1 c); diced
1 lg Carrot (1 c); julienned
3 Celery ribs (1 c); chopped
2 cl Garlic; minced
29 oz Diced tomatoes (2 cans)
15 oz Can red kidney beans;
- undrained
15 oz Can great northern beans;
- undrained
15 oz Can tomato sauce
12 oz Can V-8 juice
1 tb White vinegar
1 1/2 ts Salt
1 ts Oregano
1 ts Basil
1/2 ts Pepper
1/2 ts Thyme
1/2 lb Ditali pasta (1/2 pkg)

It's amazing how many lousy clones for this delicious chili-like soup
from Olive Garden are floating around on the Web. Some are shared on
message boards, others are displayed on sites in a collection of
"actual restaurant recipes" (yeah, right!). But they all leave out
obvious ingredients you can see, like the carrots, ground beef, or
two kinds of beans. Others don't get the pasta right--it's obviously
ditali pasta (short little tubes). Then there's the recipe that
really squeezed the seeds from my gourd--one that's floating around
in MasterCook format that lists "Top Secret Recipes" as the source.
But, wait a minute! I've never before created a clone for this
dish--not here on the site, and not in any book. So, after logging
some time over a chopping block, an open flame, and a couple tasty
glasses of Merlot, out popped this puppy. And this is the one,
kitchen cloners! If you want the taste of Pasta e Fagioli at home,
this is the only recipe that will fool in a side-by-side taste test.
Accept no other imitation imitation!

Brown the ground beef in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat.
Drain off most of the fat.

Add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and saut for 10 minutes.

Add remaining ingredients, except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.

About 50 minutes into simmer time, cook the pasta in 1-1/2 to 2 qt
boiling water over high heat. Cook for 10 minutes or just until pasta
is al dente, or slightly tough. Drain.

Add the pasta to the large pot of soup. Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes and
serve.

Recipe FROM: <gopher://sdf.org/0/users/myst32yt/recipes/
Olive#040Garden#253#040Pasta#040e#040Fagioli.txt>

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