Pasta e Fagioli
Italian Pasta and Borlotti Bean Soup
Beans and pasta in one pot, cooked until the line between soup and stew disappears. The test, according to the Italian recipe this follows, is that a spoon stood in the middle of the pan stays upright.
The Italian recipe read simmers soaked borlotti beans, fries cured pork fat with onion, carrot and celery for 15 minutes, adds the beans, tomato concentrate, rosemary and broth, cooks short pasta in the pot and finally stirs in a purée of some of the beans to thicken it.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 200 g dried borlotti beans, soaked in cold water for 8 hours
- 80 g pancetta or unsmoked streaky bacon, finely diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
- 1 onion, 1 carrot and 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 sprig of rosemary
- 320 g small short pasta (ditalini or similar)
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
Method
- Cook the beans Drain the beans, cover with 1.5 litres of fresh water, bring to the boil and boil hard for 10 minutes. Simmer for 40 to 60 minutes until tender. Do not salt until the end. Keep the liquid.
- Make the base In a large pan, cook the pancetta in the oil over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes, then add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for 10 minutes more until soft.
- Combine Add the tomato purée, rosemary, two-thirds of the beans and all their liquid. Simmer for 15 minutes. Purée the remaining beans and stir them in.
- Cook the pasta Bring to a steady simmer, add the pasta and cook, stirring often, for the time on the packet, adding a little boiling water if it becomes too thick to stir. Season with salt and pepper.
- Rest and serve Remove the rosemary, rest for 5 minutes and serve with olive oil. It should be thick, not brothy.
Food safety
Dried beans must be soaked and then boiled hard for at least 10 minutes before simmering.
The pasta goes on absorbing liquid. Serve it promptly.