RECIPE DOCTOR
Pasta fagioli recipe cuts sodium, calories

By Elaine Magee
Knight Ridder News Service

Q. I love the pasta fagioli soup at the Olive Garden restaurant and would love to know the nutrition information on a light version I can make at home. Can you help?

A. I don't have an Olive Garden close by, but I made a point to visit one about an hour away, because this reader's letter intrigued me. I ordered the soup and took copious notes.

The soup I concocted uses ground sirloin, canned beans, low-sodium chicken broth and V-8 juice along with as many veggies as would fit in the pot.

Everyone I served the soup to seemed to lick the bowl clean. One of the bonuses of the Olive Garden restaurant is that they will freshly grind parmesan cheese over your hot soup if you want — well, that, and the hot breadsticks. I'll have to get to the breadsticks another week, but the parmesan is up to you.

I used low-sodium choices in this soup recipe to help those on low-sodium diets. If this isn't a concern to you, you can either add salt to taste at the end or use regular sodium products when making the soup.

Pasta Fagioli

• About 2 cups small (about ¡-inch) dry pasta noodles
• 1 pound super-lean ground beef or ground sirloin
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon minced or chopped garlic
• 1 cup sliced celery
• 1 cup diced carrot (regular or baby carrots)
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans Italian diced tomatoes (low-sodium if available)
• 15-ounce can white beans (or similar), rinsed and drained
• 15-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 15-ounce can low-sodium tomato sauce (regular-sodium sauce can be substituted)
• 2 (5.5-ounce) cans V-8 juice, lower-sodium if available
• 3 cups low-sodium beef, chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon white or rice vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon basil flakes
• 1 teaspoon oregano flakes
• About 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (optional)

Bring a large saucepan, half-filled with water, to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and follow directions on package until cooked al dente. Drain and set aside.

While pasta is boiling, you can brown the ground beef in a nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. Once that's almost cooked through, add the onion, garlic, celery and carrots to the pan with the beef. Stir mixture and let it cook together for about 5 minutes.

Add all the remaining ingredients (not including the pasta noodles), stir mixture, cover saucepan, and lower heat to simmer. Simmer for about 45 minutes. Stir in the cooked noodles and continue to simmer for about 15 minutes or until ready to serve.

Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of freshly shredded or grated parmesan over each bowl of soup if desired.

Makes about 8 soup bowl servings. Per bowl: 327 calories, 22 g protein, 49 g carbohydrates, 5.5 g fat (2.1 g saturated, 1.8 g monounsaturated, 0.6 g polyunsaturated), 17 mg cholesterol, 9 g fiber, 298 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 15 percent. Omega-3 fatty acids, 4 g; omega-6, 0.2 g. Weight Watchers points: 3 for a half-serving.

Elaine Magee is author of "The Recipe Doctor Cookbook" and "The Flax Cookbook." Write to her at www.recipedoctor.com. Personal responses cannot be provided.