Pasta e Fagioli - The Name Alone Says Yummy Italian

A former colleague (Cynthia) used to make this (among other delectable Italian and Greek dishes) and bring it for lunch. It always smelled so wonderful and looked so pretty, but I wasn’t much into soups in the mid 90s or I would have begged her for her recipe.

I’d almost forgotten about this particular brew until my Cookstr page on Facebook reminded me by highlighting their chef of the day, Giuliano Hazan. In clicking through to his recipes, I found this and immediately printed it out. It couldn’t have been more perfect for a cold wintry day.

Pasta e Fagioli ~From Giuliano Hazan / Cookstr :

 

Although this recipe may take closer to 45 minutes to prepare than 30, Pasta e Fagioli is one of northern Italy's best known and loved soups and deserves to be included in this book. There are many variations of this soup and one of my favorites is from the Veneto, where the soup is thick and creamy, a texture that is achieved by mixing in some mashed boiled potato as well as mashing some of the beans. The beans traditionally used in this soup are cranberry beans, borlotti in Italian; some of the most famous ones come from a town in the Veneto called Lamon. A good substitute, if cranberry beans are not available, is cannellini beans. – Giuliano Hazan

Yield: SERVES 4

Ingredients

• 1 medium boiling potato
• ½ small yellow onion
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 medium celery stalk
• 2 medium cloves garlic
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cups (2 15-ounce cans) canned cranberry or cannellini beans, drained
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces fresh tomatoes
• 1 large beef bouillon cube
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 ounces short tubular pasta
• 3-4 sprigs flat-leaf Italian parsley
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

1. Wash the potato, put it in a pot, and cover it with water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the potato is tender, about 30 minutes.

2. While the potato is cooking, peel and finely chop the onion. Peel the carrot and the back of the celery stalk and cut both into small dice. Peel and lightly crush the garlic. Peel the tomatoes and coarsely chop them. When the potato is done, put the onion, carrot, celery, and garlic in a 4- to 5-quart soup pot together with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Place over medium-high heat and sauté until the vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

3. While the vegetables are sautéing, peel the boiled potato.

4. When the vegetables are ready, remove and discard the garlic cloves. Add the chopped tomatoes and continue cooking for 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of the canned beans, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, for about a minute. Add 5 cups water and the bouillon cube. Mash the potato with a food mill or potato ricer and add to the pot. Do the same with the remaining cup of canned beans. Add the bay leaf, cover the pot, and raise the heat to high. When the soup comes to a boil, lower the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes.

5. Add the pasta and cook, covered, until the pasta is al dente, stirring often. Chop enough parsley to measure 1 tablespoon. When the pasta is done, stir in the chopped parsley and serve. Drizzle some of the remaining olive oil and sprinkle freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano over each serving.

DomestiKitchen’s Review:

First, compared to what I remember Cythinia’s tasting like, this didn’t fit that taste memory. Once I decided not to compare, however, it’s a wonderful soup, made exactly as directions call for, except the beans. Here in Indiana, there is no way I am going to find anything like cranberry beans. Maybe cannellini beans, if I’m lucky. In the regular bean aisle of one of our larger groceries, no cannellini beans. Anywhere. Thirty people passed me by while I searched the shelves for cannellini beans. I substituted great northern beans, of which there were a gazillion varieties – all different “flavors”. Finally, on a shelf far below, I found 3 cans of regular, no spices added, great northern beans…69 cents a can. The great bean hunt was finally over. Several aisles down, in the international section, there were 2 cans of cannellini beans (woohoo) imported from a Middle Eastern country…$2.99 a can. As much as I was tempted to use the cannellini beans, for $2.99 a can, I felt my great northerns were an acceptable substitute.

On with the soup review:

* Prep all your veggies first.
* I think another potato would have provided more creaminess. I did peel and cut the potato in large chunks to boil to speed things up a bit. Mash the potato with the extra cup of beans. It would just save a step.
* Mince the garlic and leave it in. Beans and potatoes really don’t have much flavor on their own; they need help. The garlic is a nice helpmate.
* Tomatoes: Well fresh, juicy red sun-ripened tomatoes aren’t going to be found here in the Midwest in February. What’s in the stores is insipid, flavorless mush. Use a can of diced tomatoes. You’ll get more flavor and a product that doesn’t fall apart. I used “fresh” and the tomatoes just disintegrated in the soup. You can’t even see the tomatoes, let alone taste them. Sometimes fresh is not as good as canned.

I’ll definitely make this again!! It’s good. It’s hearty. And nutritious. There are leftovers in the fridge I will be slurping up for a late lunch today. As always, soup is best with a bit of crusty French or Italian bread.