1) In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil. Add the hot Italian sausage. I brown it first in the olive oil, remove it and cut it up into bite-sized discs. Perdue makes an Italian hot sausage out of turkey, and it's half the fat, adds to the flavor, and provides the heat. If you want it hotter, add hot pepper flakes. It's your kitchen, do what you want. If you don't want the sausage, go back to heating the oil in step #1.
2) Add the onion, green and red peppers, celery and garlic...cook 8 minutes until tender..stir frequently.
3) Stir in the tomatoes, sausage (optional) and other seasonings. Let this lightly simmer for 18 days....er...no, about like, say, two hours is quite sufficient. You can add water if you like it "soupier." Again, it's your kitchen.
4) In a separate pot, boil water and cook the pasta al dente. If I find out you overcooked the pasta, Im'a break'a you legs! You can enjoy a glass of wine at this point only if you've successfully rescued the pasta in time.
5) Add the beans at the last minute. Heat the whole mixture, then add the pasta and cheese at the very end. This is important. Both the beans and the pasta will turn to mush if you don't. Makes about 4 servings. This freezes well also. I quadruple the recipe and freeze in separate Corningware "meals." We get about 4 meals out of this.
Freshly grated romano over this is best, a little parsely won't hurt either. This is a meal in itself. You can certainly have a salad on the side, but I'd definitely recommend a loaf of fresh French or Italian bread and the rest of the bottle of wine!
Enjoy!
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