Pasta e Fagioli
I was at a party the other night, making merry and chatting about moonlighting as a vegetarian virtuoso (or, at the least, a well-practiced devotee of the art of vegetarian cooking) when I was asked a question that so often follows up my veggie cooking admission: “What sort of cuisine do you specialize in?”
This question never fails to unnerve me as vegetarian cooking is a cuisine onto itself. Vegetarianism gives one free reign, in my humble opinion, to pillage and de-carnivorize recipes of every region, cuisine, homeland, backwoods, and entomology. It’s a very open, forgiving, humanistic (except for the pillaging part) libertarian sort of cuisine.
Every country can boast at least one traditional vegetarian dish, even if it’s a more carnivorous cuisine: hummus, pirogi, ratatouille, dal, pilau, chile rellenos, doubles, gado-gado, dolmas, and borscht to name a few. Many more vegetarian dishes can be extrapolated from traditional recipes by just omitting or replacing the meat.
Pasta e Fagioli is a traditional Italian dish that has been in my memory since childhood. Not because I remember eating it, but because I remember reading about it in an Italian cookbook by the actor Dom DeLuise. (aside: why do actors make such darned good cookbook writers? Madhur Jaffrey anyone?) Anyway, not only is this is excellent and traditionally vegetarian Brooklyn-Italian dish, it furthermore helps elucidate the haunting lyrics of Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore:”
When the stars make you drool joost-a like pasta fazool
serves: 8 (makes great leftovers!)
time: 1 hour 20 minutes, or 40 minutes if using canned beans
Pasta e Fagioli
1 yellow onion, diced
5 cloves of garlic,minced
3 stalks of celery, sliced
2 carrots, diced
olive oil
5 cups of veggie stock
1 1/2 cups of red wine
1 very large (35 oz) can of tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 (16 oz) bag of dried kidney beans or 3 cans of canned kidney beans*
2 cups elbow macaroni
sploosh of balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper
red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese, optional
*Cooking dried whole beans produces the best taste but takes the longest. Soak your beans overnight in the fridge (or for at least a few hours) if possible as this cuts down cooking time.
If cooking using a regular cooking method the beans cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
If using a pressure cooker soaked beans take around 15 minutes. Unsoaked beans take about 40 minutes.
If all this is too much work, just use 3 cans of kidney beans, discarding the liquid and rinsing the beans.
Saute onions, garlic, celery and carrots in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
Add the liquids: broth, wine, tomatoes and the herbs: oregano, rosemary, thyme, red pepper and bring to a simmer. Add the beans and cook until beans are soft (see above note for approximate times.)
When the beans are soft, add the macaroni pasta and cook for 10 minutes.
Season with salt, pepper a sploosh of balsamic vinegar.
Serve with grated cheese and more red pepper flakes.
Garlic Broccoli
olive oil
8 cloves of garlic
1 head broccoli
salt
Cut the cloves of garlic into neat slices. Saute in olive oil on low heat until soft and golden, taking care not to burn.
Meanwhile, cut the broccoli into florets. Add the broccoli to the skillet with a little water, place a cover over, and steam for 10 minutes.
Season with salt and you’ve got a green and yummy side dish.
December 14th, 2006 09:04
Yum1 thanks for share the recipe!
December 17th, 2006 13:53
Hi Vanessa! Yum- you’ve been busy cooking! I have been doing so much paperwork for school, I finally got a free moment to check blogs and see how everyone is doing. I hope you are having a great holday season.
December 17th, 2006 18:07
Hi Vanessa! I’m doing a test to see if I can comment on your blog now. So let me take this opportunity to say how much I enjoy your writing style, photos, and recipes. And your cool header and witty title–I’m really quite jealous of them!
Now, I’m crossing my fingers on one hand and clicking Submit with the other….
No! It didn’t work! I am now going to turn off my Internet Security and see if that makes any difference….
December 18th, 2006 16:24
Thanks Johanna!
Karen - I’ve been doing great, thanks! Wish I would have made it to the Bust bazaar, tho - I had so much fun last year. Sadly, so did my wallet.
Susan - Argh! So frustrating. I’ll dig into my code again and see what dirty guts I can pull out. Also, you’re making me blush! I’m such a fan.
December 18th, 2006 16:31
Nice but “pasta e fagioli” is actually a soup with beans and small size pasta in Italy…
Ciao.
December 22nd, 2006 20:35
Hi Orchidea - I love food history…I’m sure that Pasta e Fagioli can be a soup in Italy and a more hearty pasta dish in Brooklyn. Mmmm, I’d love to try both in a single sitting!
December 26th, 2006 20:35
Vanessa - hi there, I’m really intrigued by that question about your cooking specialisation. In all the years of being vegetarian, I’ve never had to answer that one!
I completely agree that being a vegie encourages you to eat from far and wide. India, North Africa, Europe, South-East Asia, parts of South America, the Middle-East and so on - all their cuisines contain such beautiful vegetarian food. In the search for interesting and healthy meals, I think that being vegetarian encourages you to explore all those options.
I love the recipe above, but also your chickpea and olive tagine looks fab as well - two of my favourite foods! Keep up your great blogging.
June 27th, 2007 04:49
Not sure if you’ve seen Dom’s original recipe for pasta e fagioli from his cookbook on the Internet…I’ve been making it regularly since probably 1992. I still have the original cookbook that is falling apart from use, and this is by far my favorite.
It’s so simple, yet filling, cheap, and delicious; pasta, beans, garlic, and a light olive oil kissed tomato sauce. I usually do the Emeril thing; I tend to drop in a bunch of black and cayanne pepper to make it super spicy, but it tastes just fine normally.
And it keeps beautifully. You can cook it in advance and reheat in the microwave, and it tastes just as good as fresh for about a week.
Fantastic stuff. I love it.