Author Notes
Little Italy in the Bronx is my original source for pasta fagioli. I wanted to make my own at home and tried many different recipes and tried to recreate variations I had tasted on Arthur Avenue. This recipe is infinitely resilient. You can use different vegetables, different seasoning meats, and make it vegetarian or not. —luvcookbooks
Ingredients
-
3 tablespoons
olive oil
-
4 ounces
spice rubbed pancetta
-
1
onion, chopped
-
2
garlic cloves, chopped
-
1
carrot, sliced
-
1 cup
shell beans, shelled
-
1 cup
yellow wax beans, chopped
-
1
28 ounce can cannellini beans
-
1 quart
low sodium chicken broth
-
1 bunch
dandelion greens, carefully washed and torn
-
8 ounces
ditalini or other small pasta
-
Parmesan cheese, grated
-
olive oil for the table
Directions
-
Cut pancetta into 3/4 inch cubes and heat gently in olive oil until slightly crisp.
-
Stir in the onion and saute until soft but not colored. Add garlic, carrot, shell beans, and yellow wax beans and stir to coat.
-
Add chicken stock and dandelion greens and bring to a boil. Add cannellini beans and simmer for about 25 minutes, until vegetables are tender but not mushy.
-
Smash some of the beans against the side of the soup pot with a wooden spoon. This adds great body to the soup.
-
Just before you are ready to serve the soup, stir in the pasta and cook until just done. Stir in a handful of Parmesan cheese, then serve more Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil to add at the table.
See what other Food52ers are saying.