"I really, really, REALLY love this soup. The best pasta e fagioli recipe I've found. Unfortunately, I rarely have pancetta on hand, so half the time I use bacon instead. It works fine, but, if you can get your hands on pancetta, DO IT!! It brings such an amazing flavor to the soup. This is also very kid friendly. My son loves it! I stared making it when he was three. He loved fishing the ditalini out with his little fingers. :)

"I love this recipe!! It's the best I've found. The buttermilk really gives the chicken a ton of flavor. Don't skip this step! And make sure you do it for at least 12 hrs, more if you can. And the seasoning blend is divine (I actually use it to season oven baked chicken as well. Season the chicken liberally, like you would for the fried chicken, but then toss the chicken in bread crumbs and bake. So good!). Thank you, Alton, for another amazing dinner!!

"Okay, so, a few clarifications first...this recipe is in the new issue of FNM, and the directions are a bit different. They don't mention cognac, and most importantly, they specify 12 oz of COOKED pasta (which comes out to be about 5 or so oz of dry pasta. 12 oz of cooked pasta would be WAY too much for this recipe. That being said, this dish was awesome!!!! I didn't have a jalapeno, so I just used crushed red pepper flakes. It was seriously one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. Even my five year-old loved it. Healthy? No, but we don't eat like that every day. I say enjoy your life and indulge once on a while.

And just as a side note - I seriously don't understand why people who have NEVER made this recipe are reviewing it!! We really don't care if you think it's unhealthy or doesn't meet your standards for authentic Italian food. If the recipe offends you, don't make it. If you have one far superior, good for you!!

"Okay, so, a few clarifications first...this recipe is in the new issue of FNM, and the directions are a bit different. They don't mention cognac, and most importantly, they specify 12 oz of COOKED pasta (which comes out to be about 5 or so oz of dry pasta). 12 oz of cooked pasta would be WAY too much for this recipe. That being said, this dish was awesome!!!! I didn't have a jalapeno, so I just used crushed red pepper flakes. It was seriously one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. Even my five year-old loved it. Healthy? No, but we don't eat like that every day. I say enjoy your life and indulge once on a while.

And just as a side note - I seriously don't understand why people who have NEVER made this recipe are reviewing it!! We really don't care if you think it's unhealthy or doesn't meet your standards for authentic Italian food. If the recipe offends you, don't make it. If you have one far superior, good for you!!