This is a recipe that sets my family and friends mouths to water
I call it an 'un-recipe' because I grew up with my Nona & Mom creating and cooking with whatever we had in our pantry or garden. Hands down this is my most anticipated dish and it disappears at any size family gathering!
I've put this to paper the best I could.
Pasta Fagioli ‘Fazool’ as we called it
Feeds approx. 6 / Double this recipe for a big crowd
Takes approx. 20 minutes to make
What You'll Need You can modify this to what's in your pantry!
- XV Olive Oil 2 tbsp.
- Chopped onions fresh or frozen
- 1 Tomato Paste 7oz can
- Red or White Wine or No Wine at all 1/4 cup
- Chopped Spinach 10oz fresh or frozen
- Salt & Pepper 1/4 tsp. each
- Oregano
- Garlic fresh or powder
- Red Pepper flakes pinch
- 1 15oz can store brand Pork & Beans for vegetarian use canned beans of your choice
- 1 15oz can chopped tomatoes
- Tomato Sauce homemade or your favorite brand
- Ditalini or any other little pasta will work approx. 1/2 to 1 cup
- Chicken Broth, Vegetable Broth or use some of the salted water leftover from the cooked pasta approx. 2 cups
- Freshly grated parmesan, crusty bread for serving
Pasta
In a small pot boil water for pasta, salt water & add pasta don’t fully cook the pasta leave it chewy so it doesn’t turn to mush in pot. Drain, reserve pasta water & put pasta back in pot for use in fagioli pot.
Fagioli
In a pot heat XV olive oil, add onion and sauté, add entire can of tomato paste and let it caramelize in the pan, add wine if using
Add chopped spinach, season spinach with S&P, Garlic, Oregano and red pepper flakes to taste. Sauté spinach, add beans, chopped tomatoes & tomato sauce.
Add some of the reserved pasta water and bring pot to quick boil, turn flame to low, add pasta, some chicken broth, vegetable broth or pasta water.
Turn flame off
Serve with freshly grated Parmesan & crusty bread.
Option
Serve with a side of crumbled cooked hot or sweet Italian sausage which is nice option to sprinkle over the pasta fagioli
~ Mangiare!
PS - I'd love to know how this turned out for you! Leave me a comment or post a pic on social media and tag me @marinellajewelry