Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Rustic Bean and Pasta Soup)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 55 min
- Level
- Easy
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 11
About this dish
Mashed beans and pasta starch do the thickening that cream would do elsewhere.
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About a third of the cannellini get crushed with a fork and stirred back, turning the broth cloudy and smooth, and the ditalini then cooks in the same pot, releasing more starch as it swells. The aroma comes from garlic and a sprig of fresh rosemary; the crushed tomatoes are poured in before the garlic browns, and scraping the pot then lifts the cooked-on bits into the soup. Because the pasta keeps drinking broth, the soup tightens quickly; small splashes of water bring it back to something you eat with a spoon rather than a fork.
Ingredients
Instructions
- 1
Dice the onion, 2 celery stalks, and carrot finely, then mince the 3 garlic cloves.
Drain the cannellini beans, and crush the whole peeled tomatoes by hand so they break down evenly in the soup.
- 2
Warm 3 tablespoons olive oil in a heavy pot over medium heat.
Add the onion, celery, and carrot, and cook for about 6 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables soften without browning too hard.
- 3
Add the garlic and fresh rosemary, and cook for 1 minute to release their aroma.
Before the garlic turns brown, add the crushed tomatoes and scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen the cooked-on flavor.
- 4
Simmer the tomatoes over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until they look slightly thicker.
Add 800 ml chicken stock and the beans, then bring the soup back to a steady simmer.
- 5
Lift out about one third of the beans, mash them roughly with a fork, and return them to the pot.
Simmer 5 minutes more, until the broth turns cloudy, thicker, and smoother.
- 6
Add 150 g ditalini and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until the pasta is al dente.
If the soup becomes too thick, loosen it with up to 200 ml water, a little at a time, until it still eats like broth.
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