Photo by Navada Ra: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bowl-of-soup-and-two-silver-spoons-1703272/
By Jim Hingst
The
name “pasta e fagioli” means pasta and beans. This is not an expensive meal to
make nor it should be. Pasta e fagioli was a dish that Italian peasants made.
It is a great meal to warm you up when the weather starts to turn cold. It is
also a great way to get veggies in your diet.
There
are different ways to make pasta e fagioli or, if you are from New Jersey, you
probably call it pasta fazool. In Italy there are many variations from one
region of the country to another. In America, this dish is often similar to a
minestrone. The main difference is that in Italy their pasta e fagioli has more
beans than vegetables. Minestrone, on the other hand, has more vegetables than
beans.
The
foundation of a flavorful soup such as pasta e fagioli is the sofrito, which
requires chopping and sauteing onion, celery, carrot and garlic. If you decide
to add peppers to your soup, sauté them with the sofrito.
After
you finish sauteing the vegetables, deglaze the pan with wine. The recipe in
this article calls for a dry white wine. Other recipes will recommend red wine.
What’s really important is that you deglaze the pan to release the fond, which
are the brown particles that you have built up as you are sauteing. That fond
is concentrated flavor that makes your dish more delicious. Deglazing is also
helps in cleaning your pan.
There
are no hard and fast rules regarding which vegetables that you can add. If you
have extra peppers in your garden and you like some spice in your life, add
them. If not, don’t. Add whatever makes you happy. I also add some baby spinach
to this dish tearing or cutting the leaves into small pieces. Is it absolutely
necessary to add spinach? Certainly not, but it is a good way to add more
veggies to your diet.
Sauteing is a critical step in order to sweat
out the moisture from the vegetables. This is a low and slow cooking process
which can take from 20 to 25 minutes. Patience my friend!
Many pasta e fagioli recipes call for pancetta.
If you live in a rural area of the country, you may be hard pressed to find it.
As a substitute you can add a ham hock or two to your soup. When the cooking
process is done, the meat should fall off of the bone.
Another substitute that some cooks use is Italian
sausage. Pancetta can also be pricey, whereas ham hocks or sausage are more
reasonably priced. If you have a leftover hambone, you can also use that in the
soup. (Tip: Freeze hambones for later use in soups.) Remember that this
is a dish that the poor peasants made, although it was savory enough to be fit
for a king.
Cooking time depends on when the beans are
tender. You definitely do not want your beans to be al dente. If you want to
save time, you can use canned beans, but dried beans in a bag are more
economical.
Cook the pasta separately from the rest of the
soup. After the beans have softened and the meat is falling off the ham hock or
hambone, then add the cooked pasta. By adding the pasta at the end of the
cooking process you prevent it from becoming overcooked and gummy.
You don’t necessarily need to use ditalini
pasta. Many people use macaroni or small shells as a substitute. The best
advice is to use the pasta that makes you happy.
If your pasta e fagioli is too soupy for your
liking, you can thicken it by pureeing some of the beans in either a standard
blender or by using an immersion blender. You can also thicken the stew by
adding bread crumbs.
The recipe in this article calls for grated
Parmesan cheese. If you have been saving the rinds of Parmesan cheese, you can
substitute these for the grated cheese. The addition of the cheese is critical,
because it not only makes the dish more savory but it also makes it creamier.
After ladling the soup in a bowl, you can grate additional Parmesan cheese on
top as a garnishment.
Ingredients
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
4 to 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 oz. package of baby spinach leaves torn into
pieces
1 cup of dry white wine to deglaze the pan that
you sauteed in
1 28 oz. can of whole San Marzano tomatoes, hand crushed with its
liquid
1 or 2 ham hocks, depending on their size or a meaty hambone
1 Tablespoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 bay leaves
2 Tablespoons freshly chopped parsley for garnishing
½ cup of freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese
6 cups of chicken stock
1 1lb. bag white beans, soaked overnight or for 24 hours
2 cups of ditalini pasta or small shells, cook according to package
instructions
Directions
Soak the beans overnight or for 24 hours in 6
cups of water. In the morning boil the beans for 10 to 15 minutes. Drain. Note:
you can save the water that you cooked the beans in to cook the pasta.
In a Dutch oven or large stock pot, sauté the
onions, celery and carrots in olive oil for about 20 minutes to sweat out their
moisture. Add the ham hocks, garlic, black pepper and pepper flakes and sauté
for one minute.
Deglaze the pan with white wine. Add the
tomatoes with their juices, chicken stock and seasoning.
Bring to a boil and simmer stirring
occasionally. As you cook the soup, a
white frothy scum will likely develop on the top of the liquid. Skim off the
scum and discard.
Add the Parmesan cheese or cheese rinds. Cook
until the beans are tender and the meat is falling off of the ham hock or
hambone. Then add the pasta last. You do not want to overcook the pasta
otherwise it will become mushy.
If the soup is too watery, scoop out some of
the beans and puree them in a blender. You can also thicken the pasta e fagioli
by adding some bread crumbs. Remove the hambone and bay leaves from the soup.
Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with
additional Parmesan cheese and chopped Italian parsley.
Bon appetite!
© 2022 Jim Hingst, All Rights Reserved
