This must be one of the most humble, hearty and comforting dishes ever. It originated as a peasant dish, it is flavoursome, makes a robust meal, and it is made with simple, inexpensive ingredients.

Pasta and beans is a traditional Italian soup but there are numerous variations of recipe and names according to the region where it originates from, Central and Northern Italy.

Some vegetables like onions, celery and carrots can be used as a base. Some recipes include the use of diced tomatoes or tomato purée, pancetta or lard and flavoured with rosemary and garlic.

However, no matter how you want to call it, or where it originates from, two ingredients would be in common to all the variations: beans (cannellini beans or borlotti most commonly) and a small variety of pasta like ditalini pasta.

Using mixed shape pasta or breaking spaghetti in small sticks is very common, or the use of fresh egg pasta, like home made tagliatelle works wonderful.

I will share with you my Nona Nada's recipe that she learnt as a young girl from her grandmother, so it really goes back generations. It is the soup that reminds me of home, and of my childhood, and is a variety of simple variations. In the Istrian local dialect, we just simply call it “Pasta e fasoi,” and is based on a Venetian variation (as the area was once under the Venetian empire) characteristic of which is the use of pancetta, lard or cotenna (thick and hard outer layer covering pancetta or prosciutto).

My grandma told me that they would prepare the soup in advance in the morning, put it on the stove on a low heat to cook for hours while they would be working on the fields. Upon return this hearty soup would be ready to be eaten.

This dish is so common that it also appeared in popular culture in the song “That’s Amore” by Warren and Brooks (popularized by Dean Martin) including the rhyme "When the stars make you drool, just like pasta fazool, that's amore".

No matter how simple and humble this dish is, it is a big hit every single time! My son and my husband love it and here is how to make it.

The quantities of the ingredients in the recipe is for a big pot of soup, feeding quite a lot of people, about eight (providing they do not go for seconds!).

This soup also freezes very well. Keep in mind that when you defrost it, or simply refrigerate it and then reheat, it will most probably thicken up quite a bit. You can keep it thick or just dilute it with a bit of water.

You can make half the quantity with 300g borlotti and 2 ½ l of water, smaller piece of pancetta and 100g of pasta

Ingredients

Serves 8

500g dried borlotti beans
4 ½ l water
1 bay leaf, fresh or dry
few celery leaves
1 medium size potato, peeled (about 200g)
extra virgin olive oil, generous drizzle
1 piece, about 130g of pancetta (cured pork belly) or similar like ham hock, pig's trotter, cotenna or bone of prosciutto
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
200g ditalini shape pasta (or any small shaped pasta), or fresh egg pasta

Method

First of all, you need to soak the dry borlotti beans in plenty of cold water overnight. The following day drain them using a colander and run them through cold water.

Put the beans in a big pot, add cold water so the beans are completely covered. Add bay leaf, celery leaves, potato, piece of pancetta, drizzle of oil and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Bring to boil then lower the heat to medium-low and with the lid partially uncovered cook for about 2 ½ h.

Remove bay leaf and pancetta. Cut the meaty bits off the pancetta, set aside and put it back in a soup after you pass it through a food mill.

Take a food mill and place it steadily over a bowl. With a soup spoon, spoon out about ¾ of the beans with the liquid and mill them so you get a bean purée. Transfer the bean purée back in the pot and mix well with the rest and cook for further 30 min.

Add the pasta of your choice and cook until al dente making sure you mix it now and again just to avoid sinking the pasta to the bottom and burn.

It is very common to cook pasta separately, drain it and then added to the soup.

If the potato did not end up through the mill, then take the wooden spoon and with the back of it just press the potato against the wall of the pot. By doing so the potato will just disintegrate giving pasta and fasoi a nice thick, velvety, consistency.

Serve hot with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a nice rustic type of bread, slightly toasted even better. It is very common to grate fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano (Parmesan cheese) on top of it.

Just a thought

This is a great dish for vegetarians and vegans by opting out pancetta or similar and using non egg based pasta for the soup.

Wine suggestion

Friulano DOC “Valeris” 2019 by Muzic, Collio.

There is a wide variety of different goulash recipes and the one that I share here with you is more like the Austrian version than the Hungarian one since it has a nice thick gravy and a texture of a stew. It does derive, however, from the Hungarian version, which is more of a soupy consistency with bell peppers and potatoes.

Beef goulash, locally called “golaž” is one of those dishes that, yes, belong to the Austro-Hungarian Empire but it took a bit of a “southern turn” and changed to fit in better with Istrian's local flavours and ingredients.

And as I come from the coastal town Koper, held by Austrian Empire between 1813 -1918, with Mediterranean climate, a handful of fresh herbs would be added for flavour, developing into Istrian Style beef goulash instead of using caraway seeds and powdered sweet Hungarian paprika that can be added for more “imperial” taste.

In Central Europe and in other parts of Europe, goulash is a common meal. Very popular in Austria, Slovenia and Italy, especially in Friuli Venezia Giulia, the most eastern region of Italy, which borders with Slovenia and Austria. A dish that truly represents a gastronomic osmosis.

This must be comfort food at its best, and it is so popular that it appears almost weekly on tables as a family meal, and on menus in local “gostilnas” (informal family run restaurants in Slovenia) especially during colder months. I grew up with this dish and my husband and my son go mad for it, especially when accompanied with fluffy potato gnocchi, that are squashed with a fork to soak up that delicious gravy.

It is very easy to make but it does take time to cook so not the best option if you are in a rush and want a quick meal.

It is best made one day or two days in advance and then reheat it, as the beef tenderizes further, the gravy thickens and flavours enhance.

Traditionally is served with soft, just cooked polenta, fresh crunchy rustic bread, mashed or roasted potatoes, potato gnocchi, bread dumplings or pasta of any shape and form.

Great also with spinach or plain spaetzle (German style egg pasta) and moon crescent fried gnocchi. All good options as they will soak up the gravy.

Commonly beef goulash would be made with shin of beef, which is very tough piece of meat but after long and slow cooking process it melts into your mouth and becomes so tender you do not need the knife to cut it, so a trip to a local butcher is worth if you are having difficulty to find it in a local food store or supermarket.