Ingredients
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3 tablespoons olive oil
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2 onions, finely chopped
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3 garlic cloves, crushed
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28-ounce can whole tomatoes, preferably plum tomatoes
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2 – 19-ounce cans cannelloni beans
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1/2 pound baked ham, finely chopped
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1 quart chicken stock
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2 quarts water
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1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
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1 cup tiny pasta shells
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salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a heavy Dutch oven.
- Add the onions and sauté over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until they are soft but not brown.
- Add the garlic, plum tomatoes (which have been crushed or mashed with a potato masher), cannelloni beans, ham, chicken stock, water and crushed red pepper.
- Bring the soup to a boil, stirring often.
- Lower the heat, cover the pan, and cook for 30 minutes.
- Add the pasta shells.
- Return soup to a boil.
- Lower the heat, cover the pan.
- Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes more.
- Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper, if desired.
- Serve at once.
Notes
Don’t sauté the garlic with the onion. Your final result will taste better because the garlic will cook more quickly than the onions, and over-browned garlic is bitter.