Making a Favorite Family Recipe

Pasta e Fagioli is an Italian soup/stew/pasta meal I remember eating with my extended family at reunions at my grandmother’s house. The version of Pasta e Fagioli that she made was very simple. Since then, I’ve revised my recipe. It was influenced by an Italian recipe that one my uncle shared with me. That recipe was in Italian, so I could understand about half of it, however there was great photos which helped me figure it out.

This is the version I make today. I use dried beans and cook them in a pressure cooker. You can slow cook them or substitute canned beans. Here’s a conversion chart I found on The Spruce Eats website. Basically, 1 pound dried beans = up to 6 cups of cooked beans which is a little less than four 15 ounce cans of beans. I use great northern white beans, but feel free to substitute any kind of white beans.

As for the pasta, use Ditalini pasta. It is the small, short tube pasta. It looks like these. Some have ridges, some don’t. I use either, depending which I can find at the store.

BTW, fagioli means bean in Italian.

Pasta e Fagioli

Ingredients

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 medium onion
3 to 4 stalks celery with the leafy inside greens
3/4 pound Ditalini pasta
1 pound northern white beans (or a little less than 4 cans)
1 – 15 ounce can tomato sauce or diced tomatoes in juice
2 tablespoons red wine
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon basil
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese, optional
additional parmesan cheese for garnish
chopped parsley for garnish

Directions

If using dried beans, cook them. When I make them in a pressure cooker, they cook in about 30 minutes once the pressure cooker is hot and steam comes out the vent. You can substitute canned if you prefer. Use plenty of water, so once it is cooked there’s a little extra water.
Start a pan of water boiling for cooking the pasta. Traditionally my family would add 1 pound pasta to 1 pound beans, but I like it better with about 3/4 of a pound of pasta. Once the water boils, follow the instructions on the pasta package and cook. Save about a cup of the pasta water to add to the finished product. Once the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander, rinse with cold water and set aside.
Mince the garlic. Finely chop the onion and celery.
In another large pot (this is the one that you will add everything to) add the olive oil. Once it’s hot, add the crushed garlic, stir and simmer gently for about 1 minute. Add the onion and cook about 2 minutes, then add the celery.
Simmer without browning, stirring occasionally.
Once they are soft (about 4 to 5 minutes), add the tomato sauce. If you use diced tomatoes, blend them in a blender before adding. Stir well.
Add the wine (optional), salt and pepper, bay leaf and basil. If you choose to add fresh basil, add later after the pasta and beans are added and double the amount.
Let simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add the cooked beans with the water and stir. Let simmer another 5 to 10 minutes.
Now add the cooked pasta.
Add some of the reserved pasta water to get a fairly soupy broth, the pasta will continue to absorb the water. If necessary add additional water to thin the broth. The soup will be fairly thick and hearty.
Add the parmesan cheese and stir well. Add additional parmesan and chopped parsley to each dish. I also like to add a bit of fresh ground pepper.