When an Italian thinks about Winter, s/he is probably imaging these things: cosy views from the windows, lana merino scarves, warm espresso and cornetto, and pasta e fagioli.
If you too love a warm meal come Winter, join me as I make a speedier version of this traditional Italian recipe. I will make sure to also share interesting notes and variations on this popular Italian favourite.
What to expect: take a spoonful of pasta; you’ll likely to notice the chunky ditalini pasta first, accompanied by the creamy sauce that was formed during the simmering and in same pot pasta cooking. But don’t fret, there’ll be plenty of borlotti beans in your spoon to munch on.
Pasta e fagioli includes the basic Italian soffritto made with Italian extra virgin olive oil like Belmorso or Novello, along with bacon, and borlotti beans, vegetable stock, optional passata, and small pasta.
Yes you can. I grew up eating this pasta without any tomatoes in it. So whether you skip the passata and replace it with slices of fresh tomatoes, or omit the tomatoes all together, you are not going to ruin the final result, I promise.
While the base is the same, aka the soffritto, minestrone includes many more vegetables but not necessarily beans. While you can put beans in minestrone, the beans are not the main ingredient, and they are often replaced with peas.
