Tremendous Pasta e Fagioli
Prep
15m
Cook
45m
Total
60m
Bigly says
Folks. FOLKS. Pasta e Fagioli. Pasta. And. Fagioli. Which means beans, by the way, fagioli is beans, many people don't know that, the other so-called Italian experts won't tell you because they don't know either — they're guessing, they're always guessing, SAD — but I know, I've been to Italy, I've been to a LOT of Italys, and this soup, this beautiful brown pot of carbs and beans and tomato, is the greatest peasant food ever invented by a peasant. There have been a LOT of peasants in history. HISTORY is mostly peasants.
Real people — big strong Italian grandmothers, the kind of grandmothers who could bench press a small sedan — they come up to me, they say 'Bigly, the Fagioli. The Fagioli. How did you do this.' And I tell them. I tell them I used pancetta. I used TWO kinds of beans. I crushed the tomatoes by HAND, with my actual hand, the way the Romans did it, the Romans had Pasta e Fagioli, you can look it up, I've had people look it up, the Romans were SOUP people, nobody talks about it.
The secret is starch. Pasta water. The pasta cooks IN the soup. The soup becomes silky. The soup becomes ALIVE. Other so-called Italian chefs cook the pasta separately and dump it in like it's a sad little salad topping. Total disaster. Embarrassing. The food media won't say it but those chefs should be banned from the bean aisle. We don't do that here. Believe me.
Ingredients
- 4 ozpancetta, diced(bacon works in a pinch but pancetta is the move)
- 3 tbspolive oil
- 1 largeyellow onion, diced
- 2 mediumcarrots, diced
- 2 stalkscelery, diced
- 4 clovesgarlic, minced
- 2 tbsptomato paste
- 1 28-oz cancrushed tomatoes
- 1 15-oz cancannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 15-oz canborlotti or kidney beans, drained and rinsed(two kinds of beans is non-negotiable)
- 6 cupschicken or vegetable stock
- 2bay leaves
- 1 tspdried oregano
- 1/2 tspred pepper flakes
- 1 pieceparmesan rind(you save these in the freezer, right? RIGHT?)
- 1 cupditalini or small shells
- to tastekosher salt
- to tasteblack pepper
- 1/4 cupfresh parsley, chopped
- as neededgrated parmesan (for serving)
- as neededgood olive oil (for finishing)
Steps
- 1
Heat olive oil in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the pancetta and cook 5-7 minutes until crispy and the fat has rendered.
- 2
Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook 8-10 minutes until softened and just starting to caramelize at the edges.
- 3
Stir in the garlic and tomato paste. Cook 1-2 minutes until the paste darkens slightly and smells nutty.
- 4
Add the crushed tomatoes, both cans of beans, stock, bay leaves, oregano, red pepper flakes, and the parmesan rind. Stir well.
- 5
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- 6
Scoop out about 1 cup of the beans, mash them with a fork, and stir the mash back into the soup. This thickens the broth.
- 7
Add the pasta directly to the pot. Cook 8-10 minutes until the pasta is al dente, stirring often so it doesn't stick to the bottom.
- 8
Remove the bay leaves and parmesan rind. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
- 9
Stir in the parsley. Ladle into bowls, top with grated parmesan and a generous drizzle of good olive oil. Serve immediately.
One more thing
This soup gets BETTER the next day. Make a huge pot. A massive pot. The biggest pot you own. Eat it for lunch, eat it for dinner, eat it for breakfast — they say breakfast soup is weird, they're wrong, the Italians do it, the Japanese do it, only Americans are scared of breakfast soup, sad — and watch your family fall in love with you all over again. Pasta and beans. Pasta and beans. The greatest carb-on-carb crime in the history of food, and it's not a crime when it's this good. It's just dinner. And there you have it.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Tremendous Pasta e Fagioli.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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