Need Translation?

Monday, October 7, 2013

Pasta Fasul a.k.a Pasta and Beans

My Pasta Fasul with Borlotti beans.
We are big bean eaters in our family. I'm willing to bet my husband would turn down a New York strip for a bowl of pasta with beans! We love all legumes; lentils, navy beans, garbanzo beans, barlotti, all of them. Most everyone has heard of Pasta Fasul. That's dialect for Pasta e Fagioli. Which means pasta with beans. The traditional pasta fasul is made with the borlotti bean. They are a marbled colored bean, light brown with reddish brown streaks. But you can use any of your favorite beans. The hardest part about making this dish is remembering to soak the beans the night before! Since the beans have been dried, they need to be soaked to soften them up for cooking, otherwise they would just take  forever to cook. Here's how I make mine.

Beans soaking in water.

  1. Soak your beans overnight in water with a teaspoon of baking soda. Cover the beans with lots of water because they will expand.
  2. Chop onions carrots and celery, saute in a large pot with some olive (Extra Virgin). I use my second favorite kitchen appliance, my pressure cooker. (First favorite is my dishwasher!) I use my pressure cooker all the time, I love it. It cooks in half the time!
  3. Rinse the beans that have soaked all night and dump them in the pot, add water to cover the beans about an inch above the beans.
  4. Add a little tomato sauce, some chopped garlic, and salt & pepper. I also add red pepper because we like a little kick to our beans.
  5. I also like to add a large potato cut up in small cubes. That way they almost dissolve and make for a smooth and creamy pasta.
  6. Now for the secret ingredient. Parmesan cheese rinds! Yes you read right, I save the rinds of the Parmesan cheese, you know that outer part of the cheese that's so hard you just throw it out. Well don't! Save it for your soups. Soak it in a little water to soften it up, cut it up in small pieces and throw that in, too. It will give your Pasta Fazul an awesome creamy texture and cheesy flavor.
  7. Now cover your pot and bring to a boil, lower heat to a steady simmer and cook for about an hour and a half, maybe two hours. The pressure cooker takes about 45 minutes. We like our beans to be soft but still be intact. (The longer you cook them the softer they get and will begin to fall apart.) 
My awesome pressure cooker.


 8.  Once the beans are cooked to your liking, add some pasta. We like to use ditali with our pasta e fagioli. They are about as big a around as mostaccioli but much smaller in length. Just big enough for a bean to fit inside. You might need to add a little water at this point, but not too much, you want a smooth and creamy consistency, not watery.
 9. Cook the beans some more until the pasta is just "al dente", to the tooth, as they say here in Italy. ( In other words, not mushy.)
 10. Let it cool, top with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly grated Parmasan cheese.

Serve with a nice red wine and maybe some garlic bread. Nummy, now that's some good comfort food!
Buon Appetito!

TIP: If you aren't used to eating a lot of beans, I'd advise the use of some beano or gas-x with that Pasta Fazul. It will just make for a much happier digestion!)

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Primo, Secondo, What's that mean, anyway?

My pasta with artichokes.

What's a "primo"? I get that question a lot from from people who aren't Italian. Well, it's one of the first courses in an Italian meal. The "primo" (first course), usually a plate of pasta, risotto (rise dish), or gnocchi (little potato dumplings) which comes after the antipasto and before the "secondo" (the main course) the meat with a vegetable side. "What? That sounds complicated" they say. "No", I say, "It's easy". Here in Italy it's all about the food.
 Look, if you were invited to an typical Italian meal here in Italy it would go something like this:

Typical antipasto.
1.  The Antipasto: cold cuts and cheese, usually, a variety of salami, prosciutto( a cured ham), all kinds of cheeses, a variety of olives, maybe some grilled vegetables like eggplant or artichokes, the options are endless.


Pasta with clams.
2.  A Primo: (first course) any pasta dish, or risotto, gnocchi or, maybe, soup.



3.  A Secondo: (main course) beef, chicken, lamb, turkey, rabbit, fish, or pork, etc. and a side dish of any kind of vegetables.

Cannolli, OMG!

Mmmmm Cake.

Profitorol, to die for!

4. My favorite....Dessert or "Il dolce": Which could be a ton of things like, tiramisu, gelato, cake, amaretto cookies, a variety of pasteries, etc, etc, ect.! (So plan on saving some room for it. Good luck with that!)




5.   Cafe': An espresso coffee (never, ever a cappuccino, that's only for breakfast or mid-morning).



6.  A digestive liqueur, like, amaretto, grappa (a sort of moonshine made from the grape skins after they've been used to make wine), or an amaro (a bitter liqueur made from herbs or even artichokes to aid in digestion).


  • All of this would be accompanied, of course, by local wine, usually red, or sometimes white, depends on the area.
Now if it were a fancy occasion, like a wedding or a formal lunch or dinner, or you could just meet up with your friends at  a local cafe around 6 or 7 in the evening, you would start everything off with an "Aperitivo". A lightly alcoholic drink to spark the appetite (cause you're going to need it) like Compari, Aperol, or a sparkling white wine, or even Spumante. Served with something salty like olives, chips, or crackers.

Typical aperitivo

See, easy-peezy!  You are now an expert.
Buon Appetito!

Friday, August 2, 2013

A Light Summer Lunch


Summers can get hot here in Calabria, so today I decided to make a quick and easy "summer" lunch.
Zucchini frittata and veggie salad, yum. So what is a Frittata? Well, it's kind of like an omelette that you don't fold over and the ingredients are cooked into the egg. It's a very common dish here in Italy. You can make one with literally with any ingredients you want. It can be made for any meal, lunch, dinner or even breakfast (although not many Italians would make it for breakfast). Eggs aren't a big breakfast item over here. This is how i made mine:
Zucchini Frittata
What you'll need:
  • One zucchini sliced thin
  • some onion sliced thin, I used red onion.
  • fresh chopped herbs, I used basil , parsley and mint.
  • Eggs, one for each person plus one for the pan. I used four.
  • A hand full of grated parmisan cheese. 
  • And some other firm cheese that melts nicely. I used Provalone.
Now, saute' the onion and Zucchini in a non stick pan with a little olive oil for about 5-10 minutes on medium high heat.
While that's happening , crack open your eggs in a bowl and mix them up with a fork, like your making scrambled eggs. Add the fresh herbs, parmesan, salt and pepper and mix some more.  Now, with your fork, spread the zucchini and onions out flat in the pan, pour the egg mixture over the top, then sprinkle with your firm cheese.



 Turn the heat down to medium and cover the pan. Cook for about ten minutes or until the bottom is golden brown. Flip the frittata over, now this can be tricky, I slide it onto a plate, then flip it over back into the pan, so it doesn't break up. Cook it for another ten minutes and it's done. (Of course, if you're making  a bigger frittata it will need more time to cook.) Once it's done, slide it on a serving dish and it's ready!


We have a big choice of fresh, local veggies this time of year from our local vendor. In this salad i used :
  • green beans (steamed)
  • yellow pepper
  • tomatoes
  • cucumber
  • red onion
  • fresh herbs, parsley, basil, mint.
  • Extra virgin olive oil and a splash on vinegar. Oh, and salt & pepper.
Chop everything up , throw it in a bowl, toss with the olive oil & vinegar and you're all set!


And why not, enjoy a nice glass of white wine with that!

Buon Appetito!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...