Pasta e Fagioli
This is my pick of 2010. We’d only been working on SPC for a short time when I wrote this post but we could feel things coming together. I remember calling Laura on the day that we had a follower that we didn’t know! It’s still pretty amazing to me. Those early adopters (thank you, thank you) seemed to like this recipe or maybe they just thought my need for a 3 year old’s approval was funny. Either way, here it is again. Enjoy!
Is it foolish to feel like a rock star when your three year old says, “Mummy, this is a yummy recipe” and then cleans her plate? If loving the flattery of a pre-schooler is wrong then I don’t wanna be right. I’ve been futzing with this recipe for a few weeks. It’s always been tasty but it kept coming out a bit glommy. You know what I mean? The soup to noodle ratio was off. Plus, Esme has been hostile to this dish in the past. I would tell her I’m making “noodles” but then put a plate of beans, vegetables, broth and, okay, a few noodles landed in front of her – she wasn’t buying it.
But it all came together tonight. You can absolutely make this dish with a some good quality pancetta or bacon and use chicken stock rather than vegetable but I’m still building our meatless mains roster so this is vegetarian. Because of the tweaks I’ve made it’s not a traditional pasta fazool but, hey, my kid loved it and that’s al that matters. I’m going to go trash a hotel room. Or….. sterilize some bottles.
Here we go…..
Ingredients
- glug of olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 or 3 stalks of celery chopped (I didn't have it on hand but it really should be in this dish)
- 3 medium carrots sliced thinly
- 1 yellow or green zucchini, halved and then sliced into half moons
- 6 or so mushrooms cleaned and sliced (not too thin)
- 1 14 oz. can of cannelini beans
- 2 cups vegetable stock (please use low sodium!)
- 1 28 oz. can of drained plum tomatoes
- 1 cup whole wheat tubetti pasta
- thyme and rosemary
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan
Method
Sautee the onion, garlic and celery in olive oil until it starts to smell great and the onion starts to soften
Add the carrots and stir together. Let that sautee for a couple of minutes before adding the zucchini and mushrooms. Again, stir and let the vegetables soften just a bit before adding the stock.
Drain the can of cannelini beans and scoop out about a third of a cup. Put the third of a cup of cannelini beans and roughly mash them with a potato masher. It doesn't have to be perfect, the mashed beans are just going to give the soup a thicker, silkier feel.
Put all of the beans - mashed and unmashed-into the pot with the stock and the vegetables.
Cover and simmer for five minutes.
Drain the tomatoes and add them, breaking them up with your spoon.
Cover and simmer again for five minutes.
Add the cup of tubetti and stir.
Add a good pinch of thyme and rosemary
Cover and simmer for ten minutes, stirring every little bit.
Taste to check the pasta for done-ness and the broth for seasoning.
Add some salt and pepper after tasting.
Serve with a good bit of grated parmesan.
photo by Maya Visnyei
And hopefully this will happen to you!
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Hey, thanks for stopping by!
We're Ceri and Laura, a couple of magazine-editors-turned-food-bloggers. Also, we're mothers obsessed with delicious, healthy, family food. We're constantly thinking of ways to make your time (and our own!) in the kitchen easier and more productive, but still nostalgic for the days when dinner was cereal eaten over the kitchen sink.
6 Comments
yasmin
April 19, 22:05had no idea you had a food blog, ceri! it looks great, as does this recipe. looking forward to checking out the blog more.
yasmin
Ceri
April 19, 22:12Hey Yasmin,
Thanks! So glad you like it! We've been having a great time doing it. You're a vegetarian, right? Always looking for more meatless main ideas!
xoC
Martha
April 20, 16:30Thanks for the thyme-only shoutout! This really does look rocking good.
xo M
heidi_pyper
April 21, 18:54Looks terrific! I can't wait to try it out on M.
Laura
April 22, 23:47Wow Esme….you did a great job eating!!!!
heidi_pyper
May 06, 00:04Ceri,
I made this tonight. De-lish! Maude sadly ate her weight in carrots and hummus and strawberries while I was preparing it so she wasn't very courageous this time around. But it will definitely be making another appearance.
Good one!