Pasta e Fagioli alla Calabrese

I had grand plans for this weekend. Even though I’m no longer in school, there’s something about this time of year that begs for turning over a new leaf and starting fresh with new organizational systems and plans to keep them. I was going to give my small kitchen a good deep clean and try to reorganize the pantry cabinet. I wanted to be merciless in cleaning out my closet and reorganizing clothes.  As far as this blog goes, I had planned to get up early and go to the farmers market for ripe local red peppers and tomatoes. I wanted to get one of those charcoal grilling tins to roast the peppers outside for the bright and summery roasted red pepper sauce I planned to write about here today.

But I got sick. My throat is burning, my head aches, and my ears are clogged. Nothing above was accomplished, but I did still cook. I didn’t make the aggressively fresh and seasonal dish I planned to share originally, but instead I made my favorite soup – Pasta e Fagioli.

Soaking the beans

I’ve called this recipe “Pasta e Fagioli alla Calabrese” because it is my best attempt at recreating the version of pasta e fagioli to which I was treated while visiting my dad’s cousin a few years ago in Castellabate, a town about two hours south of Naples in the Calabria region of Italy. Unlike my grandfather’s version which, while equally delicious, is made with whole-peeled tomatoes and becomes more of a stew by the end, I don’t *think* my dad’s cousin used tomatoes, and her’s stayed soup-like – the pasta and beans sitting in an amazing garlicky broth with a bit of heat from some paprika. I opted for this version of pasta e fagioli over my grandfather’s this weekend for the garlicky broth to soothe my very sore throat. My dad’s cousin used roughly cut, likely handmade, pasta, but I’ve cheated and used roughly broken lasagna sheets (see above, I am sick. I didn’t want to expend that kind of effort to make pasta from scratch today).

Most of you might want to bookmark this one for cooler days ahead, but to anyone else suffering with a late summer cold, this one’s for you.  You could easily half this recipe, but I like making large quantities to have for lunch throughout the week. It also freezes well.

Cooking time: ~2.5 hours  |  Serves 8

• ~.75 lbs (380 g) dried pinto or cranberry (borlotti) beans
• 6 cloves garlic, 3 whole, 3 crushed
• 1 large celery stem, cut in pieces
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• About 10 (.5 lbs) lasagna sheets, roughly broken
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika + more to taste
• Handful of fresh chives, chopped
• salt, pepper

1. Soak the dried beans in a large bowl of water for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Before you begin cooking, drain the beans and rinse well.
2. Put the beans in a large pot and fill with water so that the water level is at least 3 inches above the beans. Bring the water to a simmer.
3. After a half hour of simmering, skim off the foam at the top of the water, then put in the 3 whole garlic cloves, the the celery pieces, bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, ~tbsp of salt, and ~tsp of black pepper. Continue to simmer for ~30 minutes then add the broken lasagna sheets. Continue to simmer for another 15 minutes then check to see if the pasta is soft, and taste the beans. If the beans are still a bit hard and chalky, continue to simmer and check at 10 minute intervals until done.
4. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy-bottomed pot, heat the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the crushed garlic and fry until golden. Remove the garlic (I add the fried garlic to the simmering beans for more garlicky flavor, or you could just discard it) and take the pot off the heat. Stir in the paprika.
5. When beans and pasta are soft, carefully transfer the contents of the bean pot to the olive oil and paprika, removing the bay leaves, garlic, and celery as you go. Stir in fresh chives, if using. Let sit, covered, for at least 30 minutes.
6. Serve in bowls with parmesan cheese and additional paprika to taste.

Orecchiette with Zucchini and Pancetta

This is one of my recipes. That is to say, it is a recipe that I came up with in my kitchen with a vague end goal in mind without working from any existing instructions. As a 23 year-old who hasn’t been cooking for all that long, it’d be ridiculous for me to claim that I have very many of my own recipes. But this Orecchiette with Zucchini and Pancetta, or “Zucchini Pasta” as I actually call it, is a recipe of mine I use almost weekly during the summer, make often for company, and that I wanted to share first on this blog.

My dad makes a version of this dish. His is very rich, made with lots of cream and cheese. He also shreds the zucchini so it melts down completely into a creamy sauce – this appeals to my many picky brothers who ordinarily wouldn’t eat zucchini. And it is good, but very heavy. When setting out to recreate this family favorite in my own kitchen, I wanted to make my version a bit lighter. Having no need to camouflage the zucchini, I cut them in rounds and cook them long enough so that they are somewhat soft, but still are texturally distinct from the pasta and sauce. For the sauce, rather than use cream, I mix pasta cooking water and grated parmesan to coat the pasta like when making pasta carbonara or cacio e pepe.

I really do make this dish almost weekly in the summer, but because pancetta is a little expensive, I usually use a glamorous store brand pre-cooked center-cut ham steak that I chop into cubes instead. It looks the same and by time the dish comes together it tastes about the same. But because generic slabs of ham are waterier…juicier…than pancetta, the cooking order/proportions of the recipe are different enough that it would be simplest to explain with a separate recipe, which I’ve also included below.

Orecchiette with Zucchini and Pancetta

Cooking time: ~30mins  |  Serves 6

• 1.5 lbs zucchini sliced into thin rounds
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• .5 lbs pancetta, cubed
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. salt, more for pasta water
• .5 tsp. pepper, more to taste
• 1 lb orecchiette (Shells or rigatoni also work well)
• .5 heaping cup grated parmesan
• large handful of fresh basil, torn

 

1. Fill a large pot with water and generously add salt. Leave to boil over high heat.
2. Heat the olive oil in a separate pot or deep pan over medium-high heat. Add the pancetta and cook until fat starts to render, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Add garlic and cook till fragrant, about 1 minute. Do not let brown or burn!
4. Add the zucchini, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat with the rest of the ingredients and lower heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally until zucchini are all soft, some having disintegrated.
5. Once the water is boiling, cook orecchiette according to package directions.
6. Before the orecchiette is finished cooking, ladle out .5 cup of the cooking water and add to the zucchini pot along with the .5 cup of grated parmesan and handful of basil. Mix well. Ladle out additional cooking water and set aside.
7. Drain the pasta and mix in the zucchini pot, adding splashes of additional pasta water if it seems too dry. Add additional black pepper to taste. Serve with grated pecorino romano or more parmesan cheese.

 

Poor Man’s Zucchini Pasta

Same ingredients as above, swapping the pancetta for the largest pre-cooked center-cut ham steak you can find at your grocery store. Cut the ham steak into small cubes.

1. Fill a large pot with water and generously add salt. Leave to boil over high heat.
2. Heat the olive oil in a separate pot or deep pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Do not let brown or burn!
3. Add the zucchini and stir to coat in the olive oil and garlic. Lower heat to low. Cook for about 20 minutes uncovered, stirring occasionally until zucchini are all soft, some having disintegrated.
4. Add the cubed ham steak and stir to incorporate, cooking for about 3-4 minutes to warm through.
5. Once the water is boiling, cook orecchiette according to package directions.
6. Before the orecchiette is finished cooking, ladle out .25 cup of the cooking water and add to the zucchini pot – because the ham steak has more water than the pancetta, you do not need as much pasta cooking water to create a sauce with the cheese – along with the .5 cup of grated parmesan and handful of basil. Mix well. Ladle out additional cooking water and set aside.
7. Drain the pasta and mix in the zucchini pot, adding splashes of additional pasta water if it seems too dry. Add additional black pepper to taste. Serve with grated pecorino romano or more parmesan cheese.