> Skip to content

Recipe  •  3 November 2023

 

Pasta, borlotti bean & rosemary soup (pasta e fagioli)

When I think of comfort food, my mind turns to pasta e fagioli.

It’s a very good example of a dish that may not look pretty, but delivers a lot of flavour and satisfying umami. The ingredients are inexpensive and it’s a very reliable pantry staple – you should have pretty much everything you need in your larder and fridge without needing to go shopping.

You can use any small pasta shape but ditalini or macaroni work best. The quantities in this recipe will serve more than four people but I like the option of going back for seconds.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 125g unsmoked pancetta, cut into small matchsticks
  • 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 medium onion, finely diced
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled and finely diced
  • 1 celery stalk, finely diced
  • 250g dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight in cold water
  • a handful of rosemary leaves, no stalks
  • 5 litres hot chicken stock (page 205)
  • 200g ditalini
  • flaky sea salt
  • black pepper
  • grated Parmesan, for serving
  • crusty bread, for serving

Method

  1. Place a large saucepan on a medium heat and add a good glug or two of olive oil. Gently sauté the pancetta for a couple of minutes until the meat is starting to colour. Add the chopped garlic and stir for a further minute. Now add the onion, carrot and celery and a splash more olive oil. Coat all the ingredients well and sweat for 12 minutes or so, until glossy and translucent.
  2. Drain and rinse the borlotti beans. Add them to the pan with the rosemary, stir for a few minutes, then add two-thirds of the chicken stock. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a low simmer, cover with the lid and leave for 2 hours.
  3. Remove about half the beans with a slotted spoon and place them in a blender. When the mixture has a thick, smooth consistency, return it to the pan and add the pasta and the rest of the stock if necessary, with a good pinch of salt and a twist of black pepper. Cook for a further 5–6 minutes, taste and add more salt if needed, and serve in four warmed bowls. Zig-zag the top of each serving with a thin stream of olive oil, using a pourer or your thumb to stop the olive oil drizzling too quickly.
  4. Serve with plenty of Parmesan on the table and some crusty bread.

Feature Title

Brutto
The much-anticipated follow-up title to Russell's award-winning and bestselling Polpo, showcasing simple Florentine recipes. Brutto will appeal to those who bought Polpo, Stanley Tucci's Taste and The Tucci Table, An A-Z of Pasta and Jamie's Italy
Read more

More features

See all recipes
Recipe
Beef shin & Peppercorn stew (peposo)

The classic Florentine beef stew. It’s a dish of extremely deep flavours and comforting textures.

Recipe
Florentines (biscotti con mandorle, nocciole, zenzero e cioccolato)

Here’s a slight anomaly. Although I have always known these cookies as Florentines, there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent in Italian for the name.

Recipe
Clementine Trifle

Liqueur-soaked slices of Madeira cake, custard and whipped cream are layered with fresh clementines in this simple, light trifle. Perfect for a show-stopping Christmas dessert.

Recipe
Rainbow Peanut Noodles

These vegan rainbow peanut noodles make the easiest 25-minute dinner.

Recipe
Cumin Lamb Steamed Baos

My stepdad is from the city of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, central China. Home to a large Muslim community, halal influences shape the cooking there, so dishes using lamb and mutton are a common sight in street-food markets.

Recipe
Soothing Congee

A bowl of congee (soft cooked rice in a comforting broth) is a staple in many Asian households, particularly if you’re a little under the weather.

Recipe
Soy & Garlic Tofu Bites

Tofu has been a firm favourite of my family’s since way back, and my Buddhist grandparents would always promote the idea of eating more veggies and beans over meat.

Recipe
Zero F***s Mac 'n' Cheese

If you have any awareness of or give a f**k about calories, you may want to put your welding helmet on and take a deep breath for this doozy, champion.

Recipe
Sacrificial Lamb Rack

This recipe is so crazy tasty you’ll think you died and went to hell/heaven.

Recipe
Pork and Chive Dumplings

Think of this as a good starter recipe when you’re learning how to make dumplings, and especially how to fold them.

Recipe
Mapo Tofu Curry

I came up with this recipe while creating themed curries based on the gyms in Pokemon Sword and Shield . . . this one was for the Fighting-type gym.

Recipe
Sesame Shrimp Toast

Though 'toast' (in the sense of something beyond buttered bread) really came into the American culinary zeitgeist with the millennial generation, in Hong Kong it’s been a teatime staple for decades, ever since British imperialists introduced bread to the island.

Looking for more recipes?

See all recipes