Italia a tavola-Firenze-Pasta e Fagioli

This recipe is dedicated to my son, also an appreciator of healthy and savory cuisine as well as a good chef!  I love you Cicci!

Pasta e Fagioli
Ingredients for 6 servings

11 oz. of short pasta (rigatoni, conchiglie, orecchiette)

11 oz. of dry Cannellini beans soaked for 12 hrs

(or 27 oz. of fresh Cannellini if you can find them)

3 garlic cloves

1 twig of Rosemary

1 twig of Sage (4, 5 leaves)

½ hot chili pepper

Olive oil, salt, pepper

Put the beans and 2 cloves of garlic in a pot (best pot for beans is a terracotta pot) with the sage and 2 TbS of olive oil. Cover everything with about 2 inches of water (over the surface of the beans),
and let cook in the oven at 300* for 3 hours.  
When the beans are well done pass them through a strainer (a potato ricer could work), leaving about 1/3 of the beans whole.  In a small pan lightly stir fry 1 garlic clove, the rosemary and the hot chili pepper in 4 TbS of olive oil; when cooked, pass through the strainer or put in the food processor and add to the beans.  Put everything in a pot, bring to a boil add salt and cook the pasta in it, add a little water if necessary.

Serve in bowls with a drip of fresh olive oil and a sprinkle of fresh black pepper and without cheese.

You can of course compromise a little and cook the beans on the stove top at very slow heat; this will make removing the peals easier because they generally float to the surface.

You can compromise more and use canned beans…but then you can’t really taste the true flavor of this recipe.

Good things take time!