Pasta e Fagioli, Whole Grain
Pasta e fagioli is Italian pantry cooking at its plainest: pasta, beans, a soffritto, and whatever herb is on the sill. Every region and household argues over whether it should be brothy or thick, smooth or chunky. This version splits the difference by blending half the beans into a cream and leaving the rest whole, which gives body without any oil or a parmesan rind. Toast the tomato paste until it turns dark, use whole wheat pasta so it keeps its texture, and finish with plenty of pepper. It costs little, reheats into an even better lunch, and is a full meal in a bowl.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Whole wheat short pasta
- 3 cups Cannellini beans, cooked, from 1 cup dried or two 15 oz cans, drained
- 1 Yellow onion, diced
- 1 Carrot, diced
- 2 stalks Celery, diced
- 3 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1 tsp Rosemary, fresh, minced
- 1 Bay leave
- 1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
Method
- Sweat the onion, carrot, and celery in a pot with 1/4 cup (60 ml) water over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes. This soffritto is the flavor base. Take it slow and let the vegetables sweeten before anything else goes in.
- Push the vegetables aside and add the tomato paste to the bare pot. Toast it for two minutes until it darkens to brick red and smells sweet rather than sharp. Toasting the paste dry is the single biggest flavor move here, building depth that stands in for a meat or a cheese rind.
- Add the garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, and black pepper and stir one minute. Blend half the beans with 1 cup (240 ml) water until smooth, then add that puree, the whole beans, the bay leaf, and 3 cups (720 ml) more water. The blended beans are what make the broth creamy, doing the job the oil and cheese usually do.
- Bring to a simmer, then stir in the dry pasta. Cook, stirring often so it does not stick, until the pasta is tender and the broth has thickened around it, about 12 minutes. Whole wheat pasta takes a couple minutes longer than white and holds its bite better in soup.
- It should be thick, more stew than soup, so let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes to tighten further. Fish out the bay leaf, stir in the parsley, and finish each bowl with more black pepper, which does the lifting salt would.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 360 calories, 17 g protein, 14 g fiber, 75 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
