How to make pasta and beans? The classic recipe that everyone agrees

It is a typical dish of the rural tradition to be prepared for a different and truly delicious dinner: this is how pasta and beans are made!

Pasta and beans is a poor dish of typical Italian cuisine which, however, always pleases everyone, a true comfort food to be enriched with croutons and which smells of home and conviviality.

The classic recipe involves the use of cannellini or borlotti beans combined with short pasta, usually ditalini , but there are many regional versions. In short, we are faced with one of those dishes that changes even if made by the neighbor!

Today we will see some variations and then we will prepare a quick canned pasta and beans: in this way we will not only demonstrate that a fabulous dish can be created in just a few minutes, but we will also enhance canned borlotti beans by using them to create a delicious recipe. Obviously, if you want, you can also use fresh beans. What to say more? Let's get started now!

Preparation of pasta and beans

1. Start by preparing the ingredients for the sauté : peel the onion and peel the carrot, then chop both vegetables together with the celery.
2. Take a large saucepan, place it on the stove and heat the oil. Add the garlic and the vegetables for the sauté. Stir and fry for 5 minutes before adding the bay leaf and the bacon cut into strips (you can also use lard or raw ham or omit it for a vegan recipe).
3. After a few minutes, add the beans without their cooking liquid. Leave to flavor for 5 minutes then remove the garlic and add the tomato purée. Alternatively you can use 2-3 tablespoons of concentrate.
4. Season with salt and pepper, then cook for 15-20 minutes over low heat, diluting the mixture with a little water (or, if you prefer, with broth, which will give it even more flavour).
5. After this time, take about half of the mixture and blend it with an immersion blender .
6. Combine the blended beans with the rest and also add the pasta with a ladle of hot water.
7. Let the ditalini be cooked by absorption (just as you would with a risotto) or by adding hot water (or broth) every time the pasta has absorbed the liquid.
8. Leave to cook for about 10-15 minutes , until the pasta is soft and the sauce creamy, finally flavored with the chopped rosemary. A sprinkling of pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and that's it: enjoy your meal!

If you liked this recipe, try the bean balls too!

Variations of the dish

– Fresh pasta and beans: To prepare the pasta and beans, start by soaking the dried beans in a bowl of water overnight. The following day, drain the beans, rinse them and put them in a pot of cold water with the bay leaf. Put on the fire and cook for 80 minutes.

– Neapolitan pasta and beans: in this Campanian version of the dish , pork rind is strictly used. During the cooking of the beans, the rind is placed whole and everything is left to cook for up to two hours : the taste will be sensational!

– Pasta and beans with mussels: in this case there are two things to do: cook the fresh mussels separately to make them open and use cannellini beans, which are more suitable for this version. After that the preparation is the same . You can use the liquid from the mussels to flavor and add them at the end of the preparation, both with and without the shell !

Also discover all our pasta and beans recipes !

storage

We recommend keeping the first course in the fridge, for a maximum of 1-2 days , inside a special container with a lid.