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Neapolitan-style pasta and beans


pasta and beans

Creamy and irresistible, let's discover how to prepare pasta and beans in the Neapolitan version, a simple soup with the flavor of times gone by.

Pasta and beans is a poor dish present in many regional Italian cuisines. Today we want to offer you the recipe for Neapolitan pasta and beans, perhaps the most famous variant but also the creamiest. Yes, because one of the peculiar characteristics of this dish is its consistency , which is difficult to find in other recipes except in the equally famous pasta and potatoes .

Also known as trifle ammescata cu' 'e fasule , it is prepared using mixed pasta , recalling ancient times when leftovers from the pantry were used, and dried beans, borlotti or cannellini . As with all regional recipes, there are different versions: there are those who use fresh beans and those who use dried ones, those who prepare it vegetarian and those who prefer to add lard, bacon or even rind . We will use the latter, just as tradition dictates.

Beans and mixed pasta
Beans and mixed pasta

Ingredients

For Neapolitan pasta and beans

  • Dried beans (cannellini or borlotti) – 250 g
  • Pork rind – 80 g
  • Mixed pasta – 200 g
  • Celery – 1 stalk
  • Peeled tomatoes – 100 g
  • Tomato paste – 1 tbsp
  • Garlic – 1 clove
  • Laurel – 2 leaves
  • Red chili pepper – 1
  • Extra virgin olive oil – 3 tablespoons
  • Fine salt – to taste

To serve

  • Extra virgin olive oil – to taste
  • Pepper – to taste

Preparation

How to prepare the Neapolitan pasta and beans recipe

1

First, soak the dried beans overnight (12 hours). You can use borlotti or cannellini beans, or a mix of both. The following day, cook them in plenty of water together with the two bay leaves for about 2 hours . The ideal would be to use an earthenware pot.

2

In the meantime, if you decide to use it, remove the bristles from the rind and blanch it for 20 minutes in water. Drain it and, once warm, cut it into half centimeter cubes.

3

In a separate pan, brown the celery in oil (you don't use the onion but you can add it if you want) and the garlic . Then add the peeled tomatoes crushed with a fork, the chilli pepper and the rind . Add 3 ladles of the bean cooking water and bring to the boil.

4

Remove the beans with a slotted spoon and add them to the broth together with the mixed pasta . Let it cook until the pasta is al dente and, if it dries out too much, gradually add more bean broth. During cooking, remember to add salt as we have not added any so far.

5

Once ready, turn off the heat and let the pasta rest in the pan for 10 minutes before distributing it onto the plates and finishing with a drizzle of raw oil and a generous grinding of black pepper .

As mentioned in the introduction, if you want you can omit the rind to obtain a 100% vegetable dish or replace it with lard or bacon.

But this is certainly not the only way to prepare pasta and beans: here are all our recipes !

Conservation

Neapolitan-style pasta and beans can be kept in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for 2-3 days . We recommend reheating it in a pan before consuming it.

Read also
A poor but tasty dish: the recipe for pasta and potatoes with photos and videos

Riproduzione riservata © - WT

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