Bean and Pasta Soup - Pasta e Fagioli

For 4 good friends

This is a great soup, that can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes. OR... if you have loads of time and IF you are super organised, you can start preparing this dish the day before. Tip about 300 grams of Dried Borlotti Beans into a bowl of cold water, change the water after 12 hours and change again after another 12 hours. Then follow the recipe below. 

I've made this dish for years using the dried beans, trying always to be “loyal” to my family's recipe, however, I now prefer to use the canned or bottled variety, because if I get home at about 8pm, and I feel like this most hearty soup, I can dig into it on the same night.

Lets begin:

2-3 tablespoons e.v. olive oil

2-3 tablespoons of soffritto 

(this is one of those MAGICAL ingredients that completely changes the taste of many, many dishes: it is a CARROT, an ONION and a stick of CELERY blitzed in a food processor, I normally make a nice big batch, place 3 or 4 tablespoons into a piece of cling film and freeze it, then I remove a little bag when I need it.)  

2 cans of borlotti beans-400 gms

a nice sprig of rosemary 

80 gms or so of smoky bacon

a few litres of water

1 tablespoon of tomato concentrate

1 small diced potato

salt and pepper

150 gms of any short pasta

chili (optional) 

Place the olive oil into a deep pot and warm a little, add the soffritto and cook a minute or so, then add the beans. 

I like to place my fresh sprig of rosemary into a new clean pantyhose, trust me, a great idea... I don't want to have pieces of rosemary floating around in the soup, it is easy to remove and then throw away the bag, without any washing up!

Add the smoky bacon (pancetta), a litre or two of water, the tomato concentrate and a small diced potato. Allow to simmer gently for about 20 minutes or so, basically until the potato has cooked.

Using one of those "scooper utensils with a holes", take about half of the beans out and mash with a fork, and then return the mashed beans to the pot. This will thicken the soup.

Once you can see that the smoky bacon is cooked, add the pasta. You can add whichever type you like, in Venice they prefer any short pasta, instead, my family (whose origins are from beautiful Southern Italy) like to add long linguine pasta, today I have used a wavy short flat pasta. Make sure you keep an eye on the soup, as you will need to add more water.

Cook for about 10 minutes or so, until the pasta is just right and serve piping hot, with a light drizzle of E.V. Olive Oil, some crusty toasted bread... and I also like to add a sprinkling of chili on mine.

Yum, Yum...