Pasta Fazool

“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie… That’s amore“. This 50’s era hit is one of my favourite songs when doing karaoke. I always manage to get a good laugh out of my audience belting out this Italian American classic at the top of my lungs. I’ve always told myself they laugh at the incongruity of it all, but it’s more likely they’re laughing at my bad singing.

In the second verse, there’s a mention of Pasta Fazool, and I’ve always wondered what it is that made the songwriter drool. Getting me to sing requires copious amounts of alcohol though, and the last thing I’m thinking about the next morning is to Google “pasta fazool”, so it’s long remained a mystery. That is, until last month, when Stacey from Stacey Snacks posted about Pasta e Fagioli (pasta and beans), which is the proper Italian name for this dish. Mystery solved!

This month, Susan from Sticky Gooey Chewy Creamy is hosting Dinner and a Movie, and she chose Moonstruck. I’d never seen the movie before, so I watched it last night and as soon as I heard That’s Amore in the opening sequence, I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

Pasta e Fagioli started out life as a meatless peasant dish, and like many of the other peasant dishes I’ve posted in the past, there are as many variations as there are cooks that make this dish. Apparently in some dialects of Italian, fagioli is pronounced “fazuːl”, which explains why it’s known as Pasta Fazool here.

For my version, I wanted to strike a balance between the old world and new, so I’ve used the traditional borlotti beans, but I’ve also added meat to the peasant classic. It all starts off with a basic soffritto, which lays down the base layer of flavour for this stew (as well as most stews for that matter). Then, stock, tomatoes, meat, and beans go in until the beans are tender and the whole thing is a thick hearty consistency. It’s finished with some short pasta and in this version I’ve used orecchiette. In keeping with old world traditions of letting nothing go to waste, the meat in this one is leftover meatloaf and I’ve also added some Parmesan rind to impart its nutty flavour into the stock.

Pasta Fazool

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Ingredients 

• 3 inch piece leftover meatloaf (chopped)
• ½ pound Italian sausage

for soffritto

• 2 medium onions chopped
• 3 ribs celery chopped
• 2 medium carrots chopped
• 6 cloves garlic minced

for soup

• ¼ cup dry vermouth
• 4 cups low sodium chicken stock
• 2 cups tomatoes chopped
• ¾ cups borlotti beans (cranberry) soaked overnight
• 1 piece Parmigiano-Reggiano rind (optional)
• ¼ cups fresh basil chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 4 ounces dried pasta (I used orecchiette)
• Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving

Instructions

• If you are using uncooked meat such as pancetta or Italian sausage, brown them first, transfer to a plate, then use the fat they release to make the soffritto.
• If you are use precooked meat or are making this vegetarian, add a generous splash of olive oil to a stock pot (about 2 Tbs).
• Fry the ingredients for the soffritto until soft and about halved in volume. This process deepens the flavour of the soffritto (aka mirepoix) through a Maillard reaction, which causes sugars in the veggies to react with amino acids to form new flavour compounds.
• Add the vermouth to the soffritto and cook until there is no liquid left. Add the chicken stock, chopped tomatoes, beans, Parmesan rind, basil, bay leaf and thyme. Allow this to simmer uncovered until the beans are tender (about 1 1/2 hours). If the soup start getting too thick, add a bit of water and continue cooking with a lid.
• When the beans are tender, taste for salt and add more if needed. Add the pasta and cook until tender, you may need to add a bit more water if the pasta absorbs too much. Serve with bread and a generous dusting of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

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Notes

Maillard reaction

Course Soups & Stews

Cuisine American, Italian

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