Budget friendly, easy and delicious, pasta e fagioli (pasta and borlotti beans) is one of the most appreciated and popular recipes in Italy. Like many traditional recipes many variations exist of this wonderful Italian dish. We use different herbs, sometimes we add bacon or lard and we can replace borlotti beans with cannellini. The recipe that I am going to share today is one of my favourite dishes since I was a child. Pasta e fagioli is a complete meal with high protein content, perfect for vegetarian and vegan diets. As a vegan or low fat version, you can serve it without Parmesan, it’s delicious anyway! 🙂
Pasta e Fagioli.
Ingredients
for 2 Servings
Easy
Preparation: 10 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
110 g (3.88 oz) ditaloni rigati (or broken spaghetti or tagliatelle)
2 cans borlotti beans (keep 1 cup of borlotti beans to add at the end of the cooking process)
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
6 cherry tomatoes (or piccadilly), washed and diced (optional)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves, washed
2 sprigs of fresh sage
500 ml (16.9 us fl oz) organic vegetable broth (made with water and organic vegetable stock)
1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
Parmesan to taste (optional, but nice!)
salt and black pepper to taste
Method.
1. Wash and chop the sage and rosemary (removing the hard stems).
2. In a large sauce pan, gently fry the onion with 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, then (after a few minutes) add the garlic.
3. Drain and rinse the borlotti beans. Put the beans with the tomatoes in the pan. Sauté for a few minutes, then pour in the vegetable broth with 1/2 a tablespoon of tomato paste and 2 bay leaves. Stir well.
4. Cook over a medium heat for about 15 minutes, until the broth is partially absorbed, then add the chopped herbs.
5. Turn off the heat. Using an immersion blender, mix everything well. Turn on the heat, add 1 cup of borlotti beans and the pasta. Stir well and simmer for another 10 minutes.
6. Season with salt and pepper, turn off the heat. Serve with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and plenty of parmesan (optional).
Pasta e Fagioli
Ingredienti
Per 2 persone
Facile
Preparazione: 10 minuti
Cottura: 25 minuti
110 g di ditaloni rigati (oppure spaghetti spezzettati o tagliatelle)
2 scatole di fagioli borlotti (tenete una tazza di borlotti da aggiungere a fine cottura)
4 cucchiai d’olio extra vergine d’oliva
1 cipolla media, tritata finemente
6 pomodorini (piccadilly o ciliegino), lavati e tagliati a dadini (facoltativo)
2 spicchi d’aglio, tritato finemente
2 rametti di rosmarino
2 foglie di alloro, lavate
un mazzetto di salvia fresca
500 ml di brodo vegetale (biologico)
1/2 cucchiaio di concentrato di pomodoro
Parmigiano q. b. (facoltativo)
sale e pepe q. b.
Preparazione.
1. Lavate e tritate la salvia con il rosmarino (togliendo i gambi).
2. Fate soffriggete la cipolla con 3 cucchiai d’olio extra vergine d’oliva. Dopo qualche minuto aggiungete l’aglio.
3. Scolate, sciacquate i fagioli e aggiungeteli con i pomodorini al soffritto. Fate rosolare per qualche minuto, poi aggiungete il brodo vegetale con 1/2 cucchiaio di concentrato di pomodoro e le foglie d’alloro. Mescolate bene.
4. Fate ritirare il brodo per 15 minuti, poi levate le foglie d’alloro e aggiungete le erbe tritate.
5. Spegnate il fuoco e con un frullatore ad immersione frullate bene tutto. Aggiungete la pasta e i borlotti che avete tenuto da parte. Fate cuocere a fuoco moderato (mescolando continuativamente) per altri 10 minuti.
6. Spegnete il fuoco e condite con un po’ d’olio extra vergine d’oliva, sale e pepe. Servite con abbondante parmigiano.
Foodfulife 
Beautiful and delicious! It may be peasant fare, but it satisfies me every time and makes me feel happy! I tend to make it during the colder months, but who knows? Maybe I’ll make it one more time thanks to you!
This is my kind of comfort food!! 🙂 Yes, it is a winter dish, but the weather is not so good over here. I don’t eat meat and do a lot of exercise, therefore I often have to compensate with vegetable proteins in various recipes. This dish is a good source of proteins and is one of my favourites… Let it cool a bit, it’s nice anyway! 🙂
Agreed! It’s one of the best, tastiest comfort foods!
A very soulful bowl of goodness Serena. I love comfort food like this; thick, warm, and simple.
Indeed 🙂 This dish is really like a warm hug, I think. Thank you darling! 🙂
I love how your recipe looks – so amazingly thick and luscious!
Thank you, Alicia! Believe me, it tastes even better than it looks! ;-)))
What a lovely recipe, thanks Serena!
You are very welcome! :-)))
Serena é perfetta questa pasta e fagioli! mi hai fatto venire in mente che nonostante l’inverno tremendo che abbiamo avuto in Canada é tantissimo che non la preparo. Ho visto che ci hai messo pure l’alloro oltre al rosmarino… interessante! Belle pure le foto!
Grazie Margherita! Si, pasta e fagioli è ancora più buona quando fuori fa freddo! 🙂 A me piace molto con tanta salvia, due foglie d’alloro e un po’ di rosmarino… Le erbe insaporiscono tutto e legano benissimo con i borlotti!
Non so come ho fatto con le foto, di solito il cibo marrone non è molto fotogenico :-)))
I trust you Serena, it’s a perfect and delicious comfort food. Lovely dish 🙂
So simple, but I really like this kind of comfort food 🙂
Looks like a good meal to share by the fire with old friends–comfortable all around. Thanks for the recipe– the photos make it look pretty irresistible!
Thank you, Rhonda! It is a warm comforting dish.
Pasta e fagioli is one of my favorite comfort dishes and yours looks so good on this cold rainy spring day.
Thank you, Karen 🙂 Any chance to get some borlotti beans from the store? 🙂 Have an amazing day, I hope the weather gets better…
I love these type of soups! One of my favorites is this one: http://veganmiam.com/recipes/fagioli-alluccelletta-crispy-polenta-medallions
Will you suggest some vegan eats in Genoa? We will be heading there this summer! 😉
Hi Rika! Your bean stew sounds really nice! I’ll look out for vegan restaurants in genoa for you. I have to say, they are quite difficult to find here. Local cuisine is so various that you might be able to find some vegan variations on pasta dishes in some restaurants. You should definitely try farinata, which is a kind of “focaccia” made with chickpeas flour, really delicious! I am going to post the recipe soon. Anyway, it’s a really good idea to make a post on this subject, thank you!
🙂
Very good information. Lucky me I discovered your blog by chance (stumbleupon).
I have book marked it for later!
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