Pasta e Fagioli
Italian Pasta and Beans
Contributed by Teresa
Behind the Dish
Pasta e Fagioli, nicknamed Pasta Fazol! This is not hard at all to make at home. It’s a great standby for weeknights where you don’t have much time and need to whip up something quickly. The results are really wonderful on a cold night. The recipe varies from area to area, and also from family to family. Both my grandmother, originally from Salerno, and my mother, made it their way. You would walk into the house and could not wait to eat.
This is the way I like to make my Pasta e Fagioli. I have added a few different ingredients.
- Teresa
Ingredients
Serves 3-4 hungry guests.
½ pkg. (or ½ lb.) Goya dry Great Northern Beans
2 links fresh Italian sausage
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
6 hot cherry peppers, sliced, preserved in white vinegar (jars in grocery stores)
1 can 28 oz. whole peeled tomatoes, blended for 3 minutes (San Marzano tomatoes, Cento brand, preferred)
1 chicken bouillon cube
1 cup ditalini pasta
Grated parmesan cheese
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tsp. flat-leaf parsley
Salt, pepper and pinch of oregano
Directions
Sort and rinse the beans. Pour into a saucepan and add water so that it is two inches above the beans.
Put the saucepan on the stove, uncovered, and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil cover the pot and lower the heat. Let simmer for 45 minutes. Taste. If beans are cooked, turn off the heat. DO NOT DRAIN. Set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large soup pot, cook the sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. When sausage is brown, add onion, garlic, carrot, celery and sliced cherry peppers. Cook until tender.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, bouillon, oregano and parsley.
Add beans and their water to this mixture.
Add one cup of hot water and bring to a boil.
Stir in pasta. Simmer for 9 – 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.
Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese.
I love this soup with a crust of Italian bread and a good pour of red table wine. Pasta e Fagioli is nothing fancy, just delicious. This soup brings back the wonderful memory I have of my grandmother’s and mother’s cooking for the whole family to enjoy. BUON APPETITO!