Pasta e fagioli is an old Italian stew that the peasants ate because it was easy to make, inexpensive, and hearty. Serve with crusty Italian bread.
Ingredients
Instructions
Place homemade tomato sauce on stove top to begin heating through.
Add cannellini or great northern beans to sauce. Mix thoroughly.
As the beans and sauce are getting hot, cook short cut pasta as per package directions. Add pasta to sauce/bean mixture. Mix well.
Cook on the stove top until the sauce begins to thicken, 30-40 minutes. Alternatively, cook on the slow cooker, on low heat, from four to six hours for optimum taste results.
Notes
The best pasta cut to use would be ditali, ditalini, or elbow macaroni. You can really choose whatever cut suits your fancy.
There is also the option of buying dried beans, soaking them overnight, and boiling till tender. This takes a lot of time, but can be more cost effective then buying the canned variety.
It is extremely imperative not to use jarred or canned sauce here. If you have never made tomato sauce, Italian tomato sauce is simple to do and makes a world of difference in your recipe.
You'll also need a large cooking pot, a pot to boil water, mixing and serving spoons.
Source
You can actually find different variations on the dish in restaurants throughout the country, most of them with a hefty price tag attached. This is authentic, hearty, simple, and inexpensive.
Food in Europe