{"id":8285,"date":"2019-11-05T05:23:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T04:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/italian-borlotti-bean-and-chestnut-minestrone\/"},"modified":"2025-04-24T18:25:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T16:25:48","slug":"pasta-and-beans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tortelliniandco.com\/en\/pasta-and-beans\/","title":{"rendered":"Pasta and beans: recipe from Emilia-Romagna"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pasta and Beans are one of the most well-known recipes from Italy\u2019s rural culinary tradition. It dates back to a time when meals and ingredients followed the rhythm of the seasons. From north to south, Italy is full of soups and vegetable creams, each one delicious and worth trying. I have no idea how many regional and family variations of pasta and beans exist across the country.<\/p>\n

In Emilia-Romagna, for example, the pasta used in this soup is almost always fresh\u2014typically maltagliati or quadrucci. My maternal grandmother often added a handful of dried chestnuts to my house, which she soaked overnight with the beans.<\/p>\n

At Home and in the Osteria<\/h4>\n

Pasta and beans are a dish rooted in the peasant tradition. They are enjoyed both at home and in osterie (traditional taverns), where there was almost always a cook preparing simple, homemade-style meals.
\nThe old osterie in Romagna and Bologna would serve this humble yet flavorful dish during the colder months.<\/p>\n

It was a seasonal meal, inexpensive\u2014even for the diner\u2014and kept warm in a covered pot, gently simmering on the old wood stoves. Often, the osterie was just one large room, and the aroma of the bean soup would wrap around and tempt the cold, hungry customers.<\/p>\n

\"Maltagliati,<\/p>\n

Pasta and beans<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Traditionally, this soup was cooked in an earthenware pot, which I still use today\u2014thanks to the care of those who used it before me, passing it down from generation to generation.
\nThen, it\u2019s an affordable, flavorful, and easy dish to prepare.
\nMy grandmother Sara used to add a few dried chestnuts, though roasted ones also work if that\u2019s what you have.
\nOf course, you can make it without chestnuts and a clay pot.<\/p>\n

My grandmother used to strain the leftovers from the soup, separating the beans and pasta from the liquid.
\nShe would add water to the bean broth to thin it out, then used it to cook passatelli (bean broth with passatelli recipe<\/a>). Even this humble dish is mostly forgotten today but deserves to be brought back.<\/p>\n

Buona cucina, Monica<\/p>\n

Maltagliati pasta<\/strong><\/h5>\n

At home, grandma usually added maltagliati<\/a><\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n

Keep in Touch<\/b><\/h5>\n