Pasta e fagioli varies from region to region and even household to household and generation to generation, but the idea is the same: Cooked beans (better, of course, if you cook them yourself from dried or fresh beans, but, otherwise, a can will do), partially reduced to a thick and creamy puree, are cooked with some tomato puree, enough to make it blush. This thick sauce of whole and pureed beans with short pasta swimming in it is somewhat halfway between a soup and a pasta dish, suitable for eating with a spoon.
What changes are the other additions—sometimes this is cooked with a soffritto of celery, onion and carrot and other times with finely chopped garlic and parsley as its base.
In the Veneto, when this was a traditional fall dish and it coincided with the seasonal butchering of pigs, this was be flavored with cotenna or pig skin. Today, you can often find pancetta or prosciutto, in thin strips, sizzled together with the soffritto. A piece of Parmesan rind is often thrown into the simmering sauce to add flavor. To keep this dish vegetarian or vegan, simply leave these out and use vegetable stock instead of water. Grated cheese on top of this pasta dish is entirely optional—my Tuscan mother-in-law never likes to mix cheese with beans. She says it masks the flavor too much.
You can also make this with dried beans (it's the best way, really, but for convenience's sake, the recipe here is for already cooked beans). If you’re using dried borlotti beans, put them in a bowl covered with plenty of fresh cold water the night before and leave them to soak in the fridge. The next day, drain and place them in a saucepan, cover with fresh water, add a bay leaf and simmer for a couple of hours or until the beans are tender. Add salt to taste at the end. Don’t throw away the cooking liquid – this is gold and you should use it in place of the stock or water. —Emiko
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