Pasta e Fagioli

May 20, 2023

PASTA E FAGIOLI

Recipe @cooking_with_rocco

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Drain and rinse the canned beans. Set 2 cans aside. Add the remaining 2 cans to a blender with a little water and blend until smooth, adding more water as needed until you get a smooth bean paste. Then set aside.
Place a Dutch oven over medium heat, and drizzle with EVOO. Once hot, add the onions and carrot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender (about 7 minutes). Add the garlic and a red pepper flakes and cook until fragrant (about 1 to 2 minute). Add the tomato paste and cook for about 3 minutes until you get a deep red color.
Add the blended beans and stir until fully incorporated with the vegetables. Then add 6 cops of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add a satchel of sage and rosemary, along with the remaining whole beans. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.
Add the Ditalini pasta, and cook, stirring consistently for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked (See Notes). If the soup begins to thicken too fast, add the remaining 2 cups of broth, a 1/2 cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
Once done, season with salt and pepper to taste. Then ladle the soup into a bowl and top with a fresh sage leaf, a drizzle of EVOO, freshly grated parm, and a few cracks of black pepper.

NOTES

The soup might look really thin, as the soup cooks, and then sits, the pasta will release its starch and soak up the broth and thicken up. But DO NOT leave the stove - if you don't stir consistently, the pasta will stick together.
Any left over soup can be transferred to an air tight container and stored in the fridge for up to a week.
Once cold, the soup with thicken even more. To loosen it up, simply add it to a sauce pot with some water and heat over medium heat, adding more water as needed.