Pasta e Fagioli in Parm Broth
My grandmother grew up in the Depression, and the idea of wasting anything—especially an expensive ingredient like Parmigiano-Reggiano— would have made her head explode. This soup uses the rinds I’ve accumulated and frozen until I’m ready to make it. It uses small pasta shapes like ditalini or conchiglie pastina that will float on your spoon.Plan ahead since the dried cannellini or cranberry beans need to soak for 8 hours before adding to the soup.
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried cannellini or cranberry beans
- 1 small onion, peeled and halved
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- 4–6 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rinds
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 5 cups water, for soup
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups ditalini or conchiglie pastina Semolina
- Artisanal Pasta (or other artisan brand)
Instructions
- Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving Soak beans in water for 8 hours or overnight; drain. Put onion, garlic, cheese rinds and thyme in a piece of cheesecloth and tie the top to create a pouch. Add it to a large pot with the 5 cups of water, beans, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Cook over mediumlow heat until the beans are tender, 1–2 hours; test them, as some beans may take longer to cook. (If you’ve forgotten to soak the beans, you can cook them in a pressure cooker with all ingredients for 1 hour.)
- Remove the cheesecloth pouch and taste the broth; adjust the seasoning as needed. The soup should taste saltier than you want the final dish to be because you are seasoning the pasta as it cooks in the broth.
- Bring soup to a simmer and add pasta and cook until al dente, about 7 minutes. (Taste your pasta to ensure it’s al dente because cook times for true artisan pasta vary batch to batch.)
- Ladle into bowls and drizzle with plenty of olive oil and sprinkle with Parmigiano- Reggiano cheese and additional pepper.