Could food come any more comforting than a hearty bowl of pasta and beans? But which beans, and which pasta, to use?
Described by Ligurian-born chef Lucio Galletto in his book The Art of Pasta as “one of the few dishes that unify Italy”, pasta and beans (pasta e fasoi, he says in the north, pasta fazool if you’re Dean Martin) is “peasant food of the most warming and comforting kind”, according to Russell Norman. It’s also one of those recipes with as many versions as there are cooks, differing not only, Gennaro Contaldo observes, from region to region, “but also among families”.
Such hearty, starchy dishes were once an important part of everyday diets all over Europe, beans being both easy to grow and to store – indeed, the rather austere rule of St Benedict allotted monks a pint of beans and a pound of bread a day – and though these days we all have access to more exotic fare, it’s hard to deny their attractions as a thrifty, satisfying stomach-filler. But if you don’t have a treasured recipe handed down from your nonna, what’s the best way to enjoy pasta e fagioli?
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