Pasta e Fagioli or Pasta and beans is a typical winter dish, warm and enveloping. Nothing beats the comforting allure of a steaming bowl of pasta and beans on a cold winter day. Ideal as a single dish on a rainy or snowy day and tastes even better the next day.
It’s a typical Italian peasant dish and, obviously, there many are different versions of this pasta. This is my family recipe, which my grandmother, a Campania native, prepared, and after her, my mother.
Some people prefer it without tomatoes or with the addition of bacon and a pinch of chilli while others not: but this is sure, however you prepare it, it’s always delicious. I love it creamy and with tomato sauce!
But now, let’s see how to make my Pasta and beans recipe! So let’s get started.
Other tasty recipes:
Ingredients
Tools
You’ll need:
Steps
1)
First, warm 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil into a large soup pot and add a clove of garlic.
Meanwhile, chop the onion, carrot and celery with a hand mixer and add it to the pan with the garlic; let it cook for a few minutes, until the vegetables have softened, stirring often. Then remove the garlic and add 1 ladle of hot salted water (or boiling vegetable broth ) and cook for about 10 minutes .
2)
Meanwhile, eliminate the conservation water from the beans and add them to the pan with the sauté, now add the tomato sauce and half a ladle of boiling water (or broth). Cook for about 5 – 6 minutes.
Then, mash part of the beans with a fork (or pass carefully the immersion blender directly inside), so it will be creamy; mix well.
Finally, add the pasta (I used ditali) and finish cooking, stirring often, adding boiling water (or broth) as soon as you see that it is drying too much. Turn off the heat, taste and season with salt if necessary, and let it rest for a few minutes. Garnish as you like and serve hot with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of pepper. Here it is. My creamy pasta and beans is ready. Enjoy!
Buon appetito.
Storage
You can store Pasta and beans in the refrigerator for 2 days, closed in an airtight container. When you decide to consume it, to make it creamy again, just add a little water and heat it, stirring over a low heat.
Tips and Tricks
– During preparation, boil a saucepan with water and once it comes to the boil, add some coarse salt. Always keep it available to add when preparing. If you prefer, replace it with vegetable broth.
– If you want, you can add some bacon and flavor with chilli pepper .
– I prefer to use canned beans, especially when I don’t have much time to cook. They are as good for you as the dried ones, but they have a high sodium content, so it is better to drain and rinse them before consuming.
– If you don’t have a mixer or a blender, it’s not a problem, you can avoid to mash the beans. Pasta and beans will be less creamy and a little more chuncky, but surely good.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What are some good borlotti bean substitutes?
If you don’t have borlotti beans (also known as Cranberry or Roman beans), use canned cannellini beans, pink beans, kidney beans, navy beans or great northern ones.
Varied doses for servings