pasta e fagioli
This is a nice, hearty soup ideal for those LOOOOONG winter nights when it starts getting dark at 4. How I hate this time of the year! By the way, I am using the Italian name for this recipe for two reasons: firstly it’s a well known Italian dish and secondly it sounds much better in Italian than in English. Its translation would be: pasta and beans soup . But would that sound appealing to my UK friends? I don’t think so. But if I give it its Italian name, hey presto! It sounds exotic and outlandish. In truth it is a humble peasant dish. Nothing exotic about it. I usually make it with chick peas. But I had run out of them so I used borlotti beans instead. It tastes nice with either. I cook it quite a lot when I’m pressed for time (which is very often these days) as it’s a quick soup to make but very tasty too. There are many different versions out there. I would be interested in knowing how you make it, Candi. Anyway my recipe is simplicity personified…
INGREDIENTS
1 small onion, chopped
1 packet of cubetti di pancetta (approx. 100 gr.)
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 lt vegetable stock
half a savoy cabbage, shredded
200 gr. ditalini (or other similar small pasta tubes)
1 450 gr. can of borlotti beans (or chick peas), drained
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
METHOD
Shallow fry the chopped onions with the cubetti di pancetta until nice and soft. Add the vegetable stock, rosemary (the leaves will come loose in the soup but I quite like it), the tomato puree, the cabbage and the beans. Bring to the boil and add the pasta. Cook for 12-13 minutes. Drizzle the olive oil on the top and serve with grated parmesan and ground black pepper.
Anche da noi è molto apprezzata. Forse l’unica minestra in brodo che in famiglia gode l’approvazione di tutti. Anche perché io la faccio molto densa, l’unica differenza dalla tua versione è che io frullo un po’ i faglioli prima di buttare la pasta (solo un colpetto per creare quella consistenza cremosa, lasciando il grosso intero). Se non c’è Luigi che non ama il piccante metto anche un po’ di peperoncino. Ecco tutto, come dici tu, molto semplice e comodo.