Fresh pasta e fagioli the Italian way

We’ve been making fresh pasta e fagioli. Every time we make a fresh pasta e fagioli, we receive a flood of comments from people wanting to tell us about their favourite recipes and fond memories of enjoying this dish with family.

Fresh pasta e fagioli is a quintessential Italian comfort dish. It is for this reason that we love making it.

Our fresh pasta e fagioli is based on the more traditional recipes that do not include meat, keeping the dish as simple as possible. The combination of a number of everyday ingredients are combined to create our recipe which is said to have originated in Veneto and Tuscany where it is served during the autumnal and winter months.

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As suggested from the title of our recipe, our fresh pasta e fagioli has been made totally from scratch and that includes the pasta.

Pasta e fagioli the Italian way: Serves 2 – 4

• 4.5 ounces (125 grams) anellini or any pasta broken into small pieces. We used our dried Tuscana Pici – cooked al dente, rinsed in cool water, drained and refrigerated
• 1 cup dried beans soaked in cold water overnight.
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 medium clove garlic, roughly crushed and diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 1/2 cups roasted tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1. Once the beans have been soaked overnight, rinse them thoroughly, drain and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, warm the olive oil over a medium heat adding the garlic, onions, salt and pepper. Cook until the onions begin to caramelise.
3. Add the butter, red wine and paprika and continue cooking until the wine has reduced at least by half. Check the seasoning.
4. Add the tomato sauce, beans, thyme, basil and parsley then bring everything to a boil. Now reduce to a slow simmer, cover and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. We used a Power Pressure Cooker and set it to cook beans for 40 minutes.
5. Before adding the pasta, check the seasoning then add the pasta and allow it to warm through before serving.
6. There are no rules as to how to serve your fresh pasta e fagioli, some people like it like a soup and others prefer it to be more like a pasta dish, as is the case in our house. Put some fresh bread and freshly grated Parmesan cheese on the table and enjoy!