Talking with our customers about what they’ve been cooking is one of our favorite things about being at the market. This Pasta e Fagiole recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit. And it’s definitely a winner!
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Pasta e Fagioli
1/2 lb dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight if possible
Salt
4 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 smoked ham hock
Ground black pepper
1 15oz can of whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 lb small pasta, such as ditalini
1 bunch kale, stems removed and coarsely chopped
Grated parmesan, red pepper flakes, hearty bread, for serving
DIRECTIONS
1. Soak beans over night. If you haven’t done this already, put the beans in a pot, cover with water 1″ above the beans, and bring to a boil over high heat. When the water comes to a boil, remove from heat, stir in a teaspoon of salt, cover pot, and let soak for 1 hour.
2. Pulse the carrots, onion and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a large pot of Dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped veggies to the pot and season generously with ground black pepper.
3. Cook veggies, stirring often, until veggies start to release their liquid but haven’t started to take on any color, about 4 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover pot, and cook, stirring every 5 minutes until the veggies are soft and juicy, about 15 minutes. If the veggies start to brown, reduce the heat.
5. Add ham hock and cook, uncovered, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot every 5 minutes, until the mixture is starting to brown in places and has lost some of its volume, about 10 minutes.
6. Add beans and their soaking liquid, tomatoes, and kale. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a medium-low and bring to a gentle simmer.
7. Cook soup with the pot mostly covered adding water or stock as needed to keep the beans submerged by 1 inch. Cook until beans are very tender, about 1.5-3 hours, depending on the size of the beans (this took us (it took us 2.5 hours with cannellini beans after soaking them for about 8 hours).
8. Remove the ham hock and use forks to pull any meat from the bone. Return the meat so to the soup.
9. In a separate pot of salted water, cooked the pasta until al dente, about 3 minutes less than package instructions. Drain the pasta and add to the soup.
10. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper to taste.
11. Enjoy!