A Classic Italian Dish: Pasta e Fagioli Soup Recipe

January 15, 2014 at 7:20 am · Filed under Food Holidays, Recipes, Soups

If you’ve watched enough “Abbott & Costello” reruns, you’ll hear Lou Costello wanting a dish of “pasta fazool.” That’s Neapolitan Italian dialect for pasta e fagioli, correctly pronounced pasta ay fah-JOE-lee.

Pasta e fagioli, pasta with beans (typically cannellini beans), is a popular Italian peasant dish.

Some Americans call it bean and macaroni soup, but “pasta fazool” seems to have captured the public’s imagination:

“Pastafazoola,” a 1927 hit song, beckons “Don’t be a fool, eat pasta fazool.” The catchphrase became that era’s version of “Where’s the beef?” Here are the song’s writers, Van and Schenk, performing it.

Dean Martin’s 1952 hit song “That’s Amore,” advises: “When the stars make you drool, just-a like pasta fazool, that’s amore” (watch this video of his performance).

How about some pasta fazool for National Soup Month (January)? An easy recipe follows for Pasta e Fagioli from Patsy’s restaurant in New York City.

> The history of pasta.

> The different types of pasta: a photo glossary.

> A year of pasta holidays.

[1] This version of pasta e fagioli is made with conchigliette—baby shells—instead of the conventional tubetti—see photo #2 (photo © DeLallo).

[2] Tubetti pasta: “little tubes” used in soup (photo courtesy Sabato.co.nz).

A Dish Of Cooked Cannellini Beans With Parsley
[3] Cannellini beans, also known as white kidney beans, are also a popular side in Italian cuisine. Check out the different types of beans (photo © Check Your Food).

Jar Of Marinara Sauce
[4] The basic Italian pasta sauce: marinara, made with tomatoes, onions, and herbs. The name means “sailor’s sauce) (photo © DeLallo).

RECIPE: PASTA E FAGIOLA

Ingredients For 6 Servings

1/2 pound (2 cups) tubetti pasta, elbow macaroni or other soup pasta, cooked to package directions

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup diced onions

2 cups chicken stock

1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well

3 cups (24 ounces) marinara sauce

Garnish: fresh basil chiffonade

Preparation

1. HEAT the olive oil in a deep skillet and sauté the onions until lightly browned.

2. ADD the stock, beans and marinara sauce; bring to a boil. Add the cooked pasta.

3. REDUCE the heat and simmer for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

TYPES OF SOUP PASTA

Italians have long made very small cuts of pasta called soup pasta, or pastini (“little pasta”). Pasta in brodo—soup in broth—is a popular dish. Types of soup pasta include, among others:

Acini di pepe (peperini), shaped like peppercorns

Alphabets (alfabeto)

Anelletti, small rings

Conchigliette, baby shells

Ditali/ditalini, small tubes and even tinier tubes

Farfalline, small bow ties (tripolini are a small bows with a rounder shape)

Grattoni, tiny diamonds

Orzo (rosamarina), pasta shaped like grains of barley

Risi (risoni, pasta a riso), rice shaped pasta

Seme di melone, melon seed shaped pasta

Stelle (stellette, stellini), star shaped pasta

Stortini, tiny elbow macaroni

Tubetti, small tubes

Each region of Italy made its own shapes before the days of mass communication. Thus, there are very similar shapes with different names (for example, orzo, risi and seme di melone).