How to make the perfect pasta e fa*gioli - recipe (2024)

Described by Ligurian-born chef Lucio Galletto in his book The Art of Pasta as “one of the few dishes that unify Italy”, pasta and beans (pasta e fasoi, he says in the north, pasta fazool if you’re Dean Martin) is “peasant food of the most warming and comforting kind”, according to Russell Norman. It’s also one of those recipes with as many versions as there are cooks, differing not only, Gennaro Contaldo observes, from region to region, “but also among families”.

Such hearty, starchy dishes were once an important part of everyday diets all over Europe, beans being both easy to grow and to store – indeed, the rather austere rule of St Benedict allotted monks a pint of beans and a pound of bread a day – and though these days we all have access to more exotic fare, it’s hard to deny their attractions as a thrifty, satisfying stomach-filler. But if you don’t have a treasured recipe handed down from your nonna, what’s the best way to enjoy pasta e fa*gioli?

The beans

How to make the perfect pasta e fa*gioli - recipe (1)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this universally popular dish can be made with a number of different beans – Marcella Hazan calls borlotti, “brightly marbled in white and pink”, the “classic” variety in her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, recommending the fresh sort when in season. When cooked, she says, “its flavour is unlike that of any other bean, subtly recalling chestnuts”. Outside their summer season, dried, as used by Anna, one of the nonnas in the new Pasta Grannies book, and Norman in his book Polpo, are a “wholly satisfactory substitute”. Contaldo recommends tinned in his Pasta Perfecto!, though, “time permitting”, you could use dried “if you prefer”; Galletto’s recipe, “alla montanara”, deploys dried “large white beans, called fa*gioli di Spagna in Italian”, and, I assume, butter beans in English.

Happily, I find fresh, candy-spotted borlotti without too much trouble, and can confirm that they are truly worth tracking down (or planting for next year): plump and nutty, they’re a quite superior product to the dried kind. However, as the season draws to a close, they’re not the most practical recommendation. Tinned work just fine, especially if you’re in a hurry (Contaldo’s recipe can be on the table in half an hour), but dried are a better alternative, simply because you can flavour them as you like during cooking, and use the cooking water to make a really beany broth, of which more later. If you do use tinned, loosen the water in the tin with chicken or vegetable stock.

Norman cooks his beans with onion, garlic and rosemary, while nonna Anna and Galletto pop in carrot and celery. The sharpness of garlic doesn’t feel quite right here for some reason, but the other vegetables are a great pairing with the earthiness of the beans, giving them a fuller, more rounded flavour.

Both Hazan and Contaldo mash some of the cooked beans into the broth to thicken it, which seems an eminently sensible idea, making the whole dish even more emphatically beany – on which note, though Galletto’s butter beans work just fine, we find they lack the flavour of the borlotti – even Hazan’s suggested kidney beans would probably be a more interesting option. So often relegated to a supporting role, beans should be the star ingredient in this dish.

The base

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Infusing the beans alone is not enough; all the recipes I try include a soffrito, or a base of fried onion, often with carrot and celery, too, sometimes with garlic and, in the case of Galletto, red chilli as well, which is then combined with the beans and their broth. Some, including Contaldo and Anna, add pancetta and crumbled sausage, and some such as Galletto use prosciutto – this dish is pretty delicious without meat, but if you do eat it, a little pork fat is rarely a bad thing for flavour. Pancetta is the easiest way to achieve this, but for a more substantial, almost ragù-like soup, Anna’s sausage version is a winner with my testers. Otherwise, I’m going to keep the soffrito fairly simple by adding more in the way of onion, celery and carrot to give the dish a breadth of texture as well as taste: chilli, garlic, celery leaves and so on are entirely up to you.

The liquid

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Tomatoes are very much optional – they play no part at all in Contaldo’s recipe – but, simmered down until they become one with the beans, they do add a pleasant dose of umami. Indeed, if you’re really keen on them, try Norman’s version, which stirs in a rich, long-simmered tomato sauce to create a creamily robust tomato and bean soup that is surely the very definition of a co*ckle-warmer, whatever that is in Italian.

Hazan loosens her soup with beef stock and Contaldo with vegetable, but I’m going to stick with the bean cooking liquid, so the predominant flavour is that, rather than meat or aromatics. If you would like to use stock, a neutral chicken would be my preference for omnivores.

Make it as thick or as thin as you like: according to Contaldo’s sister Adriana, “the real pasta e fa*gioli should have a thicker consistency” but I’d be very surprised if there weren’t millions of Italians prepared to argue the exact opposite.

The pasta

How to make the perfect pasta e fa*gioli - recipe (4)

Naturally, there’s no consensus here, either. Norman writes: “I have seen this made with tagliatelle, bigoli and penne, none of which seems right to me. I like the pasta to be roughly the same size as the beans,” which means small dried macaroni. Contaldo calls for fresh egg tagliatelle or pappardelle, cut into 7cm lengths, Galetto for maccheroncini, ditalini or broken spaghetti, and Hazan and Anna both make their own in the form of maltagliati, or fresh egg pasta lozenges, and cresc’tajat respectively.

The latter, a speciality of Le Marche, is, according to the woman behind the Pasta Grannies book and project, Vicky Bennison, “a fine example of frugal cooking. It used to be made with leftover polenta and served with stewed wild greens or beans, which is what Anna made for us.” I squidge cold polenta with flour, then roll it out and cut it into diamond shapes before cooking it in boiling water – it has a satisfying solidity about it that we all love, and if you happen to have any leftover polenta knocking about, I commend the idea to you. Otherwise, this being a simple, frugal dish, use whatever dried pasta you have to hand; I think the slight chewiness is a more pleasurable with the soft beans than the fresh kind, but whatever floats your boat. Personally, I’m not keen on short lengths of spaghetti (so hard to pick up), so I use Norman’s macaroni.

Galetto also uses potatoes, cooking them and the pasta in the residual heat of the broth. My spuds are still crunchy even after the allotted two hours, but I like the idea of them if you’re looking to bulk the dish out even further: some days are just three-starch days.

To finish

If you’re feeling fancy, Norman’s garlic and rosemary oil is a lovely, punchy way to finish the dish, but for me it’s all about comfort, so I’m making like Marcella and adding a knob of butter and a sprinkling of parmesan. And a great big spoon.

Perfect pasta e fa*gioli

Prep 10 min
Soak 8 hr
Cook 90 min
Serves 4

175g dried borlotti beans
2 celery sticks
2 carrots
1 large onion
Sprig of rosemary (optional)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
75g fatty pancetta, diced (optional)
2 tinned plum tomatoes
175g small macaroni, or other dried pasta
25g butter
15g grated parmesan or pecorino

Soak the beans in plenty of cold water for about eight hours, then drain. Put in a large pan with one each of the carrots and celery sticks, both snapped in half, and half the onion.

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Cover with cold water by about 3cm, bring to a boil, then skim the top. Add the rosemary, if using, turn down the heat and cook until the beans are tender (this should take around an hour, depending on their freshness). Make sure the beans are always covered with water, so top up as necessary.

Towards the end of the cooking time, peel and cut the remaining onion, carrot and celery into fairly fine dice, keeping the onion separate.

How to make the perfect pasta e fa*gioli - recipe (6)

Heat the oil in a wide, high-sided pan over a medium-low heat and saute the onion until soft and golden, then add the carrot and celery, and do the same. Add the pancetta, if using, and fry until it releases its fat, then stir in the tomatoes, breaking them up with the spoon.

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Once the beans are cooked, remove and discard the vegetables and rosemary, and scoop out a ladleful of the beans. Mash these with a little of their cooking water to make a paste, then stir into the soup with all the whole beans and enough of the cooking water to make a thick soup.

Let the soup simmer gently while you cook the pasta in salted boiling water in another pot until al dente.

How to make the perfect pasta e fa*gioli - recipe (8)

Stir the drained pasta into the soup along with the butter, cover, take off the heat and leave to sit for five minutes. Season to taste and serve with a sprinkling of cheese.

How to make the perfect pasta e fa*gioli - recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is Pasta e fa*gioli soup made of? ›

Pasta e fa*gioli, sometimes shortened to pasta fa*gioli (or pasta fazool if you're a Sopranos fan), is a classic Italian soup. Its name literally translates to “pasta and beans,” and it consists of tiny pasta, creamy beans, and tender vegetables in a fragrant tomato broth.

How to make pasta more delicious? ›

The Easy Secrets to Way Better Pasta
  1. Make sure your cooking water is salty like the sea, and almost as plentiful. ...
  2. Check the package's cooking time, but don't put too much faith in it. ...
  3. Reserve a little pasta water. ...
  4. Never, ever rinse. ...
  5. Finish your pasta in its sauce.
Apr 16, 2017

What does the E stand for in Pasta e fa*gioli? ›

In modern Italian the word for beans is "fa*gioli" (fah-jo-lee). In Italy today you would order "pasta e fa*gioli" which means “pasta and beans.”

What are the ingredients in Progresso pasta fa*gioli? ›

Water, Tomato Puree (water, tomato paste), Great Northern Beans, Kidney Beans, Mezzanini Rigati Pasta (semolina wheat, egg whites).

What does fa*gioli mean in English? ›

The word fa*gioli (pronounced "fa-JOLE-ee") is the Italian word for beans.

What is the secret to perfect pasta? ›

Always bring water to the boil before adding pasta. Otherwise the exterior will start to turn mushy before the center softens. Once boiling, add plenty of salt: about 7 grams per liter of water; this doesn't just flavour the pasta, but also shortens its cooking time.

What do you add to pasta sauce to make it taste better? ›

Tossing in strips of basil, a sprig of thyme or some oregano can take your sauce to the next level. Although fresh herbs might pop a bit more, dried herbs and spices can work just as well. Sprinkling in some red pepper flakes, a pinch of parsley and a dash of salt and pepper can liven up your jarred pasta sauce.

What are 2 tips in making good pasta? ›

Avoid a pasta mishap by following these helpful cooking tips, then try some of our favorite easy recipes.
  1. Use a big enough pot. ...
  2. Use plenty of water. ...
  3. Season the pasta water — ...
  4. Let the water come to a boil first. ...
  5. Stir right away — and every couple minutes. ...
  6. Don't rely solely on the cooking time on your pasta's package.

What is the difference between fazool and fa*gioli? ›

To sum it up, pasta e fa*gioli feels more like a vegetable and bean soup, whereas the Italian American pasta fazool created by southern Italian immigrants features a "broth" that's more like a marinara sauce (made with crushed tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, onion, and seasonings), along with ample helpings of white beans ...

What part of Italy is pasta fa*gioli from? ›

One pasta dish that the Veneto is famous for, however, is pasta e fa*gioli (or pasta e fasioi in Venetian dialect.) This is a soup with white beans and pasta, but the lead role is played by the beans, rather than the pasta.

What is the difference between pasta fa*gioli and minestrone? ›

The answer is that traditionally, yes, there's a difference, even if you can't spot it right away. While Pasta e fa*gioli tends to be a thick and hearty bowl of beans and pasta, the thing it lacks is chunks of veggies. That's where Minestrone comes in…to fill the veggie void left by its country cousin.

Does pasta fa*gioli contain meat? ›

Italian for “pasta and beans,” Pasta e fa*gioli should also translate to “best soup.” A hearty combination of pantry staples, veggies, beans, and ground beef, the flavor and satisfaction level far exceed the humble ingredients.

What does Fazool mean in Italian? ›

Actually spelled "fa*gioli" 1. Italian for bean. 2. Term used for money or a bill.

What do real Italians call pasta? ›

Regarding pasta as a dish, , the correct way to call it should be pastasciutta (Dry pasta, in the sense of out of a soup)… Pasta in Italian is a quite generic term that means , basically, dough or mixture of flours and liquids… Many years ago the tooth paste was called …. pasta dentifricia too!

Is pasta fa*gioli the same as minestrone? ›

The answer is that traditionally, yes, there's a difference, even if you can't spot it right away. While Pasta e fa*gioli tends to be a thick and hearty bowl of beans and pasta, the thing it lacks is chunks of veggies. That's where Minestrone comes in…to fill the veggie void left by its country cousin.

What are the four soups at Olive Garden? ›

Choose Soup
  • Minestrone.
  • Zuppa Toscana.
  • Pasta e fa*gioli.
  • Chicken & Gnocchi.

Does minestrone soup contain meat? ›

No minestrone does not always contain meat. But the great thing about minestrone is that it can be made with meat or without. The idea behind minestrone is to use whatever you have on hand, whether that is an abundance of seasonal vegetables like zucchini or extra ground beef that you need to cook up.

Is pasta fa*gioli high in carbs? ›

Olive Garden Pasta E fa*gioli (1 serving) contains 21g total carbs, 17g net carbs, 6g fat, 9g protein, and 180 calories.

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