Craving a hearty, healthy and comforting soup? Pasta e fagioli or pasta fasul, meaning pasta & beans, is a great winter soup that comes together in no time. This traditional Italian soup like many other Italian favorites, including pizza and polenta, started as a peasant dish, being composed of inexpensive ingredients. Creamy beans, tender pasta and delicious herbs all in a rich and savory broth are the best for a cold winter day. Perfect for those dreary winter evenings when you want something fast and delicious, this soup comes together in no time, and it's super adaptable.
Michy's Pasta e Fagioli
Ingredients
100g (4 oz.) pancetta (optional)
2 or 3 garlic cloves, slightly crushed
A sprig of fresh rosemary
Olive Oil
3-4 canned tomatoes, plus a bit of juice
500g (1 lb.) (or one large can) cannellini beans, pre-boiled or canned, drained
Water or homemade broth
500g (1 lb.) ditali or other soup pasta, cooked 1/2 way
Salt and pepper, to taste
Grated pecorino cheese
Directions
If pre-boiling the beans, pre-soak them overnight in abundant water. Simmer them the next day until tender, about an hour or so depending on how old your beans are, seasoning with salt towards the end of cooking. (If you like, you can add a garlic clove and a sprig of parsley.)
Fry the cubed pancetta in olive oil until just beginning to brown, then add the garlic cloves and rosemary.
Just when you start to smell the garlic and rosemary, add the canned tomatoes, which you should crush in your hands as you add them to the pot and simmer until the tomatoes have separated from the oil.
Add your cannellini beans, allow them to simmer for a minute or two to insaporire (absorb the flavors of the tomato and other ingredients) and then add water (or broth) and partially cooked pasta.
Continue simmering, squashing some of the beans against the side of the pot so that they 'melt' into the liquid and thicken it, until the pasta is fully cooked.
Mix in a bit of grated pecorino cheese to enrich the soup before serving. Serve topped with you choice of additional grated cheese, freshly ground pepper and/or un filo d'olio.
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