Here’s my recipe for my favourite Italian comfort food: pasta e fagioli! A creamy and rich pasta with beans, rosemary and prosciutto. It’s easy, affordable, hearty and can be made in one pot!
I know the name doesn’t sound really exciting (it literally translates to “pasta and beans”), but it is an Italian staple dish that everyone knows and loves. It’s the dish that your grandma would cook on a Sunday, the one you’d eat 4 plates of before having a nap on the sofa.
LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THIS AMAZING DISH
I just love it so much! I know it’s incredibly simple, but that’s the beauty of it (and of Italian food in general). This dish can be found all throughout Italy and no one really knows where it was born. We only know that it was a peasant dish, made with simple, cheap ingredients and pig scraps (in line with the “don’t waste anything” philosophy). In Naples they even add mussels (yeah, mussels) to this pasta! Traditionally, you would add tomato sauce as well, but my mom never did and me neither. However, you could still add some before adding the broth, if you wanted to.
THE ‘RISOTTO METHOD’
Now this is where things get interesting. Many non-Italian recipes found on the web basically result in a liquid bean soup. And I don’t want that. I want a creamy pasta, and to achieve that consistency I use what I like to call the risotto method. This means that I cook the pasta like I would do for a risotto: toasting the pasta in olive oil and other flavorings, simmering with wine and start adding broth until the pasta is cooked. The pasta will gradually absorb the broth, the starches will remain in the pot and you will have the most creamy pasta, made easily in one pot!
VARIATIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
I like to use the same recipe with any legume: chickpeas, lentils, peas, fava beans. You can also use dry legumes, just keep in mind that the weight varies. 100 grams of dry beans should correspond to 250 grams of cooked beans. Check out the recipe card for weight conversions in grams and ounces.
The rest of the recipe varies based on what I have in my fridge. If I don’t have prosciutto, I might add pancetta, or bacon, or even a teaspoon or two of lard instead of olive oil! Sometimes I even omit it completely if I want a lighter pasta.
WHAT KIND OF PASTA IS BEST?
You can use any kind of short pasta noodles. You can even use spaghetti or other long noodles, just break them with your hands! The cooking time will roughly be the same as the one written on the package, but I always check if the pasta is cooked after 7-8 minutes and keep checking until it’s cooked.
CAN I MAKE THIS VEGAN?
Of course! Just omit the prosciutto and use nutritional yeast instead of parmesan!
Italian Pasta and Beans - Pasta e Fagioli
My favourite Italian comfort food. A creamy, rich, hearty pasta with beans, rosemary and prosciutto.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 a small onion or 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 cup prosciutto cubes - optional (see notes)
- 400g/14oz canned beans, without liquid (see notes)
- 350g/12.3 oz short pasta noodles
- 1/2 cup red or white wine
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- at least 1 liter/4 cups vegetable broth
- salt and pepper to taste
- grated parmesan
Instructions
- Start by warming up the broth in a saucepan while you prepare the other ingredients: chop onions/garlic, prosciutto etc.
- In a large pot, heat some olive oil and then sautée the choppen onion/garlic until translucent. Add the prosciutto and cook until it's crispy and the fat has rendered. Add 2/3 of the beans, then the pasta noodles and wine. Simmer for 2 minutes or until reduced. Add rosemary.
- In the cup of an immersion blender, put the remaining 1/3 of the beans and 1 cup of broth. Blend until smooth and add to the pot. This will make the pasta extra creamy.
- We're going to add the rest of the broth gradually, like you would do for a risotto. Add enough so that everything is fully covered and bring to a soft boil, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing sticks. When the liquid reduces, add more broth until the pasta is cooked al dente. It should take 8-10 minutes. You might need more or less broth depending on how much water your pasta absorbs. If you run out of broth, use water.
- When the pasta is cooked, salt to taste (if needed). Serve with grated parmesan and cracked black pepper.
Notes
- Prosciutto substitutions: you can substitute with the same amount of bacon, pancetta or sausage. Otherwise substitute the olive oil with 2 tsps of lard to give extra flavour.
- Vegan option: if you want to make it vegan, omit prosciutto/lard and use nutritional yeast instead of parmesan.
- Bean substitutions: you can also use dry beans (160g or 5.6oz), just soak and cook according to the package instruction. I usually cook them in the broth that I'll use for the pasta and I use a pressure cooker to save time. You can also make this pasta with chickpeas, lentils, peas or fava beans!
