Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Rustic Bean and Pasta Soup)

Finely dice 1 onion, 2 celery stalks, and 1 carrot, and mince 3 garlic cloves. Drain 400 g canned cannellini beans and crush 400 g whole peeled tomatoes by hand. Warm 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat. Cook the onion, celery, and carrot for about 6 minutes, stirring often so they soften without taking on hard brown edges. Add the garlic and 1 sprig fresh rosemary for 1 minute. Before the garlic browns, add the crushed tomatoes and scrape the bottom of the pot to release the cooked-on vegetable flavor. Simmer the tomatoes over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until slightly thicker. Pour in 800 ml chicken stock and add the beans, then return the soup to a steady simmer. Lift out about one third of the beans, mash them roughly with a fork, and stir them back into the pot. Simmer for 5 minutes more, watching the broth become cloudy, smoother, and fuller without cream. Add 150 g ditalini and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until al dente. The pasta will keep releasing starch and taking up broth, so if the pot becomes too thick, add water in small splashes rather than flooding it. Stop when the pasta retains a firm center and the mixture still eats like a soup rather than a solid pasta dish.