In Rome, pasta and beans is made with spaghetti or maltagliati, while rice is used in the north.
Grandma’s Irene recipe is one of her family’s: Franz.
Grandmother Irene received a couple of bags of beans every year from relatives in Friuli. When the couriers warned her about the delivery, her eyes were bright with happiness and she was as excited as a child.
Grandma also added into the preparation the crusts of parmesan which she called “crode”, which in the Friulian dialect means rocks. These crusts made the soup very tasty, and those who found them on their plate were considered lucky.
I do not like rice with beans, or rather I eat them only when I go to exotic places like Brazil or Cuba and I cannot find alternatives! When I make this recipe, mentally apologizing to grandma, I do it with the maltagliati instead of rice, using the same procedure and, when I can, the brown gems of Friuli when my dear friend Mariuccia sends them to me from Sacile.
Pasta and beans
- Preparation time: 240 minutes
- Ingredients for 4 servings
- Difficulty: Average difficulty recipe
- Ingredients
- 150 gr or 5 oz of maltagliati pasta
- 250 gr or 9 oz of beans borlotti
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 onion
- 110 gr or 4 oz of tomato sauce
- Extra virgin olive oil to taste
- Butter to taste
- 2 cups of meat broth
- Parmesan crusts
- Instructions
- Soak the beans in cold water for at least twenty four hours. Boil them without salt in a crock pot on very lowheat with half carrot, half celery stalk, andhalf onion.
- Chop the rest of the celery, the onion, and the carrot.
- In a pan with oil and a knob of butter stew the chopped vegetables over a gentle heat for about ten minutes. Add the tomato sauce and continue cooking for a few minutes.
- Drain the beans, setting aside the cooking water, and blend one half.
- Insert the whole beans and the minced ones, ladle in some of the cooking water and some of the broth. Cook over a low heat for about an hour and a half.
- Pour the maltagliati and the parmesan crusts in the pan and cook for a few minutes. Salt and serve. Serve with spicy oil if you like it.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- Beans must be dry but not old. Check the package label to make sure they have not been dried before six months. The older they are, the harder they are, andthey need a longerrest in the water, even up to three days, and a longercooking time. In addition, old dried beans have lost many of their nutrients.
- The parmesan crusts must be washed very well before being used.
- For meatbroth look here.
Grandpa Aldo and Granny Irene. She was a really good Telemark skier
