When the temperature goes down, it’s pot and soup time.
From north to south, Italy has a rich tradition of soups, which are good and worth trying.
Today, I’m sharing a comforting bowl of pasta and beans. This is the Emilia-Romagna version of the most popular pasta and fagioli.
At home as in the old osteria
Bean soup with pasta is largely diffused everywhere in Italy, with some differences from area to area. This recipe belongs to the cucina povera (peasant food) tradition of Italian cooking, which is based on simple, hardy ingredients that are cheap, widely available, and easy to prepare.
It is a traditional dish that once you could enjoy at home and in the osteria, where almost always there was a cook at the stove offering typical homemade food.
During the cold season, the old inns in Romagna and Bologna used to offer this simple and flavorful dish.
It was seasonal eating and cheap. It was kept warm in the covered pan that remained mumbling softly on the old stoves. Taverns often consisted of one large room, and the bean soup enveloped and engulfed the cold and hungry patrons.
Pasta and beans
At home, pasta and beans were called maltagliati and beans soup because of the fresh pasta, maltagliati, to be precise. Sometimes, nonna would also soak a handful of dried chestnuts the night before with the beans.
The pasta and beans have an almost firm consistency and a round, rich, and meaty flavor, even though there is no meat in this recipe from the cucina povera.
When the table and the food followed the seasons, this winter soup warmed and satisfied. I can’t say how many variations exist in Italy; this is from my family repertoire.
Buona cucina, Monica
Maltagliati pasta
At home, grandma usually added maltagliati to the bean soup. Maltagliati is a fresh pasta that comes from leftover pasta sheets. To make it, cut the leftover pieces of the sfoglia irregularly and preserve them in a glass jar. You can use any size of short pasta.
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Pasta and beans
Ingredients
- 1 carrot
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 small yellow onion
- 30 g of olive oil
- 30 g of butter
- a few sage and bay leaves
- 100 g of dried borlotti beans
- 20 g of red wine optional
- 3 g of tomato paste
- 2 liters of water
- 3 g of coarse salt
- 130 g of maltagliati or other fresh pasta like quadrucci
- grated Parmigiano Reggiano, to serve
Instructions
- The night before, soak the beans and, if you like, a handful of dried chestnuts in a large bowl full of cold water.
- The next day, drain the beans, rinse them under running water, and set aside.
- Choose a large pot and set it aside.
- Finely chop the onion, carrot, and celery and cook for a few minutes over low heat in a bit of olive oil and a knob of butter. Then, add the sage and bay leaves.
- Pour the beans into the pan. Stir again and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the red wine, let it evaporate while stirring over high heat, add the tomato paste, stir, and then add the water.
- Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook on low heat for about an hour and a half or until the beans are tender.
- Turn off the heat and remove 1/3 of the beans from the pot. Remove sage and bay leaves.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the contents of the pot until creamy. Taste and add salt if needed.
- Bring the broth back to a boil, and then add the pasta and the whole beans. Lower the heat and cook for a few minutes, stirring.
- Serve the soup hot with grated Parmesan aside.
Tip
- If you like, before serving, sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley.
