Thirty Minute Thursdays: Pasta e Fagioli~

This is one recipe from Giuliano Hazan’s Thirty Minute Pasta that takes more than 30 minutes.  I don’t know how much more, because I was really engrossed in the creation of the soup, but cooking times alone ran 30 minutes after the first major steps.  There’s a potato to be cooked, then riced, beans to be riced, veggies to be diced and browned lightly…then pasta to be cooked, broth to be added to the beans and simmered along with the riced potato…but don’t let that put you off.  Just make sure you choose your time for making this recipe when you have a little extra time and energy because it’s oh, so worth it.

Lael Hazan, Giuliano’s wife, posted this soup and the recipe for it just about a week ago on their blog, Educated Palate.   Ironically, I made the soup the very next night being totally unaware of her post!  Isn’t the internet the most bizarre information source?  I have to admit, canned cranberry beans are virtually impossible to come by here, and even cranberry beans are difficult to come by, so my soup was made with cannellini beans, but we loved it.

There’s still another fun twist coming up…  In another cooking group, one that actually spawned this effort, Cooking Italy, we’ll be making Marcella Hazan’s version of Pasta e Fagioli before the end of the month.   It will be a lot of fun to see how the two versions differ in taste.  I’ve prepared some of each of their recipes in the past, and while Marcella’s is the time honored, slow prep method,there’s not a lot of difference in taste between her version of many sauces and Giuliano’s.  Either way, it will be a fun taste test, because it can’t be bad!