Pasta e Fagioli

This is the way we make around my neighborhood. Every part of Italy has their own version and we love them all. This, however, is the one I love the most.

It took me years to try this. It just didn't sound good to me. I must have been stupid. I have heard people around the world talk about their mamma's or their nonna's pasta e fagioli. How could it be anything but a great classic if every Italian loves it? Italians know their food.

It's cheap, healthy and delicious. It's jammed with vegetables, it sticks with you through a winter day and is good for everything that ails you. A grilled piece of bread rubbed lightly with garlic and then drizzled with good oil and sprinkled with salt would be great with this.

I made this twice this winter. The first time I used up some borlotti beans, which resemble pinto beans. The color was really unattractive and reminded me of camouflage. I figured I had little to hide, so I made it again with my favorite canellini white beans. This is the result. Those are orecchiette in there for pasta, because that's what was open. I usually make the pasta, especially of someone is coming to eat. The glistening bits on top are from a thread of new oil drizzled over it, and the brown bits are prosciutto. You can easily leave out the prosciutto and make it vegetarian, but you'll miss a faint smokiness if you do.

For four people:

400 g beans, about a pound, soaked overnight and then boiled until tender in salted water to cover
Prosciutto crudo chopped fine 50g, or a similar amount of smoked pancetta (affumicata)
1 onion, chopped fine
1 carrot chopped fine
1 leg of celery chopped fine
a pinch of crushed chili
2-4 tablespoons of olive oil
about ½ teaspoon salt
1 potato diced
Parsley to taste
100 g pasta boiled in salted water (or maltagliate made with 100 g flour and 1 egg, then rolled and cut into irregular quadrangles)

After you have boiled the beans, mince finely the vegetables and ham for the soffritto—I chopped everything in the food processor including the smoked pancetta I used in place of the ham. Heat the oil in a large, heavy pot and add the soffritto mixture, salting it a bit. Stir and sauté this until the onion begins to brown, then add 2/3 of the cooked beans, all of the cooking water and the potato and cook for about 30 minutes. Cook the pasta very al dente, drain the water into the soup pan, and then use a stick blender (or a food mill) to puree what is in the pan.

Add the whole beans that remained and the pasta and gently heat to serving temperature.

This is typically served with a thin thread of fresh extra virgin olive oil swirled over the top.

If you want to serve only part of it, freeze the part not wanted after adding the whole beans, but before adding the pasta. Freeze the uncooked pasta separately after drying a bit if you have made it at home. You may use purchased pasta, and the best faux homemade is to cut into rhomboids a sheet of the thin, fresh lasagna pasta you can buy at shops.

This is a great dish and I think we need to send it to Pasta Presto Night. Perfect cold weather food and the white beans are now fresh.