This soup is dedicated to the secret ingredient that makes all soups better: an overnight stay in the fridge. While delicious out the gate, on the second day, this soup is transcendently good; it’s like all the components had a chance to get to know each other overnight and the vibe is just right.
Other than the requirement of its two title ingredients – pasta and beans – recipes for Pasta e Fagioli vary widely based on whatever region of Italy you’re in. Some versions include salty pancetta to start the soup, while others blend beans into the liquid for thickening and have very little besides onions and rosemary for aromatics. In America, it’s probably most widely known for being offered in unlimited quantities at Olive Garden, where their version contains ground beef and comes alongside truckloads of breadsticks (party time). For our version, we decided to skip the beef and let the vegetables and beans take center stage. Here, fennel is terrific – not only is it in season, its mellow sweetness tames the acidity of the tomatoes and brings a great depth of flavor.
Whatever form your version takes, this soup is classic comfort food – filling, savory, inexpensive and fairly simple to prepare; just a handful of ingredients and some time is all you need.
PASTA e FAGIOLI
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and finely diced
2 medium or 1 large sized carrot, peeled and finely diced
4-5 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 ½ tsp. fresh rosemary (the leaves from one stem), finely minced
½ of a (6 oz.) can tomato paste
1 (28 oz can) san marzano whole tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed*
1 (32 oz. container) chicken stock
1 parmesan rind (if available)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
Half box pasta of your choice (smaller sizes like Ditalini or elbow macaroni are best)
Salt and pepper
OPTIONAL GARNISH:
Grated parmesan
Crushed red pepper
Flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped or fresh basil
High quality olive oil (like Graza ‘The Drizzle’)
Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion, fennel and carrot and season well with salt and pepper. Cook the vegetables down for 10-15 minutes, stirring often, until very soft and browned, creating what’s known as a ‘soffritto’. Splash a little water into the pan if they are sticking to the bottom, turn the heat down a touch if it’s scorching. Add the garlic, rosemary and tomato paste and stir well to coat, cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour in the can of whole tomatoes, crushing the whole tomatoes into smaller pieces with your hands as you add them to break them up.
Add the cannellini beans, pinto beans and chicken stock and tuck the parmesan rind and bay leaf into the liquid. Bring to a simmer and turn to low. Simmer on low for 45 minutes. Add red wine vinegar and taste, then add salt and pepper as needed. At this stage I added about another 1 ½ teaspoons of kosher salt and a few big pinches of pepper to bump up the flavor. In the last 5-10 minutes of cooking, prepare your pasta according to package directions and cook to al dente.
To serve: portion the pasta into bowls and pour the soup on top. Garnish with plenty of grated parmesan, some crushed red pepper, parsley and a drizzle of some high quality olive oil if you have it. Serve with garlic bread, breadsticks or fresh ciabatta for dunking.
Store the pasta separately if you can or it will suck up all the liquid. If the soup is very thick, splash in a little water when reheating.
*The most traditional bean choice in this style of soup is cannellini or borlotti beans (also known as cranberry beans). However, borlotti beans are not always easy to find and we don’t really care for kidney beans. However, if you like them, feel free to use them. We found in recipe testing that doubling the white beans makes the soup almost too starchy for any of the other flavors to shine through. While we know pinto beans are not necessarily a traditional choice (look away, Italians!), there is something about them here that just works.
BEVERAGE PAIRING SUGGESTIONS
This soup has a terrific balance of elements – depth of flavor from the soffritto, tang from the tomatoes, starchy heft from the combination of beans and pasta. As such, it works well with wines that are approachable and balanced – preferably with decent acidity, low tannin and a fresher flavor profile. For a red, a classic match is Chianti or Chianti Classico. The Badia a Coltibuono Cetamura Chianti is bright ruby colored in the glass with aromas of cherries and flowers. A super approachable wine in both price and profile we love its tart fruit flavors and clean finish. Another Italian red we’re quite dedicated to that works well is the GD Vajra Langhe Rosso. A Northern Italian blend of mostly Nebbiolo, Barbera and Dolcetto, this wine is a bit more plush in the glass than the Chianti, with flavors of ripe red berries, cherries and hints of violets and rose. A total crowd pleaser, this is our house red in the winter and goes with just about anything from pizza to roasts.
White wine would also work well here. Lately, we’re really digging the one liter (more wine!) bottle of Ercole Monferrato Bianco. A blend of Cortese, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc from Northern Italy, this wine is light bodied and elegant, with flavors of tropical fruit, melon and clementines, balanced by nicely present minerality and zippy acidity. It’s a terrific white to tip back with this savory, comforting soup.
If you would prefer to pair your soup with beer, Peroni would be a natural fit here. But we’d rather crack a local beer than an import, so our suggestion is one of our favorite Massachusetts brewed pilsners: the Fort Hill Brewing Hera Pils is brewed in Easthampton, MA. Crisp and light with a clean finish, this Czech-style pilsner would be a dynamite foil to this soothing soup.