Pasta and Beans: Pasta e Fagioli
I could live on this recipe -- a quick version of my Gran'pa Emmanuel's masterwork.
Equipment
- 1 Deep Pot or Dutch Oven Large enough to hold all ingredients and liquids
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Chef's knife
- 1 Ladle For serving the soup
- 1 Cheese Grater For finishing with Parmigiano or Romano
Ingredients
Main
- 2 tablespoons 2 turns around the pan extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/8 pound about 3 slices pancetta, chopped
- Two 4 to 6-inch sprigs rosemary left intact
- One 4 to 6-inch sprig thyme with several sprigs on it left intact
- 1 large fresh bay leaf or 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 small carrot finely chopped
- 1 rib celery finely chopped
- 4 large cloves garlic chopped
- Coarse salt and pepper
- Two 15-ounce cans cannellini beans
- 1 cup canned tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups water
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups ditalini
- Grated Parmigiano or Romano for the table
- Crusty bread for mopping
Instructions
- Heat a deep pot over medium high heat and add oil and pancetta. Brown the pancetta bits lightly, and add herb stems, bay leaf, chopped vegetables, and garlic. Season vegetables with salt and pepper. Add beans, tomato sauce, water, and stock to pot and raise heat to high. Bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked al dente. Rosemary and thyme leaves will separate from stems as soup cooks. Remove herb stems and bay leaf from soup and place pot on table on a trivet. Let soup rest and begin to cool for a few minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and top with lots of grated cheese. Pass crusty bread for bowl mopping.
Notes
Properly browning the pancetta at the start is crucial for building depth of flavor in the soup base. Be mindful of the salt from the pancetta, stock, canned beans, and tomato when seasoning the vegetables initially. Cooking the ditalini directly in the soup allows it to absorb the delicious broth, but keep an eye on it; overcooking will result in mushy pasta. Remember the pasta will continue to absorb liquid as it cools, so the soup will thicken significantly upon standing. If reheating, you may need to add a splash more stock or water to achieve the desired consistency. Removing the whole herb sprigs makes cleanup easy, but gently bruise them before adding to help release their aroma.