Pasta e Fagoli by Giovanna Eusebi of Eusebi Deli in Glasgow
If ever there was a season that was made for the Southern Style ‘Cucina Povera’ it’s winter, and Pasta e Fagioli fits the brief perfectly. I have fond memories of my Nonna in Italy, cooking outdoors in the cold Italian winter months, using all the branches she had cut from the trees in the field – ever resourceful!
She would cook this hearty soup on the embers. I adapted the dish slightly with the addition of a bread crust, which is great for soaking up the juices. It’s my favourite one pot dish, both easy and inexpensive to make.
http://eusebideli.com
Ingredients: Serves 4
50ml olive oil
100g pancetta, diced
1 white onion, medium diced
2 carrots, medium diced
2 sticks celery, medium diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
250ml white wine
200g dried borlotti beans, soaked over night, cooked next day until tender
1 tin canned tomatoes
2 bay leaves
500ml chicken stock
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
200g dried pasta, macaroni or ditalini
Parmesan rind
Dough
1 packet of dry yeast
15g sugar
230ml warm water
340g strong flour
30ml extra virgin olive oil
15g salt
Method
1. First, make the dough by incorporating all ingredients into a mixer with a dough hook and mix until a smooth dough has formed. Cover with cling film and leave to double in size at room temperature.
2. To make the soup, preheat the oven to 200C. Sweat down the onions, carrot, celery and garlic in the olive oil. Add the rosemary and pancetta and cook off for a further five minutes until the pancetta renders its fat.
3. Add the white wine and reduce until nearly evaporated, then add the tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaves, borlotti beans, pasta and Parmesan rind. Simmer for around 30 minutes and season.
4. Once the soup has been made, transfer into individual terracotta dishes along with a sprig of rosemary per bowl. Grab around 100g of dough and stretch out by hand to cover the whole of the terracotta dish. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and place in the oven at 200C, until the dough has cooked and coloured slightly. Serve immediately.
In association with Taste Communications.
www.tastecommunications.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article