Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta Fazool/Pasta & Beans)
Pasta and beans was a staple in my childhood Jersey home. My mom made this soup often and we all loved it. A fan asked for the recipe.
Pasta and beans is a healthy and inexpensive peasant dish. You can have this one-pot meal that packs lots of flavor and goodness on your table in less than an hour. My version is from Campania and we call it pasta fazool in Neapolitan-American slang.
I fondly remember my last visit to Casserta Vecchia, a medieval village high in the hills overlooking the Bay of Naples. As we took in the view, the winds picked up. A dark storm was sweeping up from the bay.
We ducked into an ancient inn to have lunch as the blustery, fast-moving storm passed by. I was warmed by a bowl of pasta and beans in a terra cotta bowl, followed by grilled sausage, both cooked in a huge open hearth in the dining room with old stone walls and hand-hewn wooden beams overhead.
Pasta e fagioli is made all over Italia and varies from region to region. One big difference is that mine has no meat. Up north they usually add pancetta to the aromatics as the base of the soup. Some people like to add tomato puree. Some people don’t add tomato, they like a white pasta fazool.
Mine has a light pink hue. I use a little tomato puree. Make it any way you like it, just don’t make it the way they do at Olive Garden.
The creamy beans and pasta are bathed in a savory light broth enhanced by the sharpness of the pecorino and the mellow olive oil. Pasta fazool will warm you and fill you up all winter long.
- 1/2 onion
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 tablespoons EVOO
- 1/2 cup tomato puree
- 3 cups dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight or two 15 oz. cans
- 8 cups water
- 1/2 pound ditalini or another short-cut pasta
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, roughly chopped
- grated pecorino
- If you are using dried beans soak about 1 1/4 cups overnight or for at least 12 hours. They will expand and should yield about 3 cups of soaked beans for the soup.
- Roughly chop the onion, celery and garlic.
- Put the EVOO, onions and celery in a large enameled pot.
- Over medium heat, sauté the onions and celery until translucent, about 5 minutes. (You do not want them to pick up any color.)
- Add the garlic and bay leaf and sauté for another minute.
- Add the cannellini beans and mix well.
- Add the water and tomato puree to the pot. Stir well.
- Put the cover on the pan and simmer over medium-low heat stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and the soup thickens. (If you are using canned beans that should take about about 20-30 minutes. If you are using dried beans soaked over night that could take 60 minutes or so. You want the beans to be tender but not mushy.)
- Add salt and black pepper to taste.
- Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is al dente, about 8-10 minutes more.
- Shut off the heat and add the parsley. Mix well.
- Serve in bowls immediately with a sprinkle of pecorino and a drizzle of EVOO.
- Serves 6.
Buon appetito!
Ciao Gianni, I have just finished a short essay about my grandmother’s pasta e fagioli. Hers was very similar to yours. In order to make sure all the Italian and English words were spelled correctly, I went a a website that translated the Neapolitan dialect. Legumes in Neapolitan is fasulo – hence the fazool spelling from the sound of what our families were saying. Fasulo makes sense because the Neapolitan dialect of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s dropped the vowel at the end of the word. Thank you so much for this recipe. Mangia!
Ciao Gianni,
This dish was a staple in our house that my mother would make often, she would also saute some bacon with it, sometimes she did a version with lentils, very delicious. La ringrazio molto per le vostre ricette.
Ciao John.
I sometimes add some pancetta. My Mom used bacon too.
Piacere, my pleasure to share a Jersey family recipe.
Grazie, Gianni! This is about the most appetizing pasta fazool I’ve ever seen, honestly. And your story about the inn in Casserta Vecchia really sets the scene for the dish. I almost feel a sense of nostalgia for it even though I’ve never been there myself. (You could moonlight as a travel writer.) I’ll be making this dish tomorrow.
One thing, though. The beans portion on your ingredients list is a little unclear. Am I correct in assuming that you meant either 3 cups dry cannellini beans (soaked overnight) OR 2 15-oz cans? Also, if we opt for using canned beans, should we add them with their juice or should we drain and rinse them before adding them?
Thank you again so very much. I’m really looking forward to trying this. You made my weekend. Buon Natale and God bless!
Ciao Norm. Thanks for your comments and question about the beans. I was unclear in the recipe and because of several questions I’ve modified the recipe.
If you are using canned cannellini beans, rinse them and add to the pot. They will become tender after simmering about 20-30 minutes.
If you’re using dried beans, use about 1 1/4 cups of dried beans. Pick through them to make sure there are no pebbles. If any float to the top of the soaking water, discard them.
Soak the dried beans overnight or for at least 12 hours. They expand while soaking and should yield the 3 cups you need for the pasta fazool. Soaked beans will probably take the better part of an hour to become tender. Whichever beans you use you want them tender. not mushy. I hope this clear things up.
Buon appetito!
I don’t suppose you also have a great recipe for pignoles. You’ve hit on everything from my childhood so far save those.
Ciao Christy. Aren’t we lucky to have grown up with wonderful Italian food? What’s your pignoles food memory, a pasta sauce?
They were wonderful pine nut cookies at Christmas and weddings.
I love them. I’ll make some this week and share the recipe.
Thank you thank you thank you! I can’t wait! I want to surprise my mother with them. Our recipe was lost to the last generation. I should have paid more attention.
On behalf on the Internet, thank you for this recipe. Olive Garden? Gag me with a spoon! B-uona Natale from Chicago!
Ciao Joe. This pasta fazool is the real deal. I’m not sure what that is that they serve at Olive Garden. Buon Natale to you and your family.