| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 50 min |
| Prep: | 25 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- Salt
- 1 pound penne rigate or whole-wheat penne
- 1/4 pound pancetta, 3 to 4 slices thick cut like bacon
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 ribs celery from the heart with leafy tops, chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and grated
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 to 3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
- 3 to 4 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves finely chopped
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (15-ounce) can small white beans “Roman” beans, such as Goya brand or, cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- Nutmeg, to taste
- 1 1/2 cups grated Romano
Instructions
- Pasta e Fagioli is a dish I keep revisiting trying to play around with methods for it so I can keep making it new to me. Here, the classic soup turns into a baked pasta dish. Loosen your belts and open wide. Have your blankies ready for a family nap.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, cook pasta to just shy of al dente.
- Chop pancetta into 1/4-inch dice.
- While pasta cooks, heat a skillet with olive oil over medium to medium-high heat. Add pancetta, cook 2 to 3 minutes then add celery, carrot, onions, garlic, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf to the skillet, season with salt and pepper. Saute the vegetables until tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Add beans and heat them through. Stir in 1/2 cup wine, simmer 30 seconds more and turn off heat. Remove bay leaf.
- While vegetables cook, place a small sauce pot over medium heat, add butter, melt butter then whisk in flour and cook 1 minute then whisk in milk. Season sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg and reduce 4 to 5 minutes, stir in half the grated cheese, turn off heat and adjust seasoning.
- While sauce cooks, place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat broiler to high.
- Drain pasta and return to the pot, toss with white bean mixture and sauce, stir to coat, transfer to a casserole dish, top with remaining cheese and place in oven to brown, 5 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 6 servings |
| Calories | 721 |
| Total Fat | 27 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Carbohydrates | 85 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Sugar | 9 g |
| Protein | 32 g |
| Cholesterol | 65 mg |
| Sodium | 837 mg |
Reviews
absolutely tasty my family was raving about it and super easy. those that are leaving negative comments probably messed up somewhere because it was a comforting dish!
Delicious! Substituted turkey bacon and gluten free pasta. So quick and easy to make. Next time, I might make extra sauce to make it even creamier.
I made this with whole wheat penne and my family loved it. Couple modifications. Use shredded Italian cheese blend for the sauce. On top I made a mix of parm and panko, dotted with butter. I think next time I would use two cans of beans. Also used bacon instead of pancetta. I used about 3/4 lb of pasta and it wasn’t dry. However, the whole wheat pasta absorbed the sauce and it wasn’t nearly as good as leftover. So I would make perhaps a smaller batch next time – I think half a box of pasta would be fine.
This is yummy and filling. The taste reminded me a little of stuffing.
My first comment is this makes way more than 6 servings! 6 of us ate our fill with 2 having 2nd helpings and there is enough for 2 more servings leftover for lunch tomorrow. I used a 9×13 pan.
I made this casserole early in the day and the sample I immediately tried was creamy and flavorful. After reheating in the oven later, all of the sauce had soaked into the pasta. It wasn’t dry, but neither did it have the creamy goodness it had right away. We think we may use ham or bacon next time.
LOVED – but made some changes after reading the reviews: Used 1 c. milk and 1/2c. heavy cream. Only used half of the amt. of pasta (whole grain and omitted carrots (only because I didn’t have any on hand. Added chopped spinach for some greenery and used applewood smoked bacon rather than pancetta. Baked in the oven for 20 minutes instead of broiling due to timing issues but this tasted amazing!
Just OK. Maybe if you use half of the pasta, the flavors of the other ingredients would be more pronounced. Kind of dry. Too many other recipes out there to try this one again.
I thought this was delicious. Except for the carrots, which I don’t like, I followed the recipe exactly. I usually love her recipes but am still waiting for the time when I can actually make one in thirty minutes, lol.
This recipe was good, but nothing special. It’s definitely comfort food, but lacked depth of flavor. I added sundried tomatoes, which gave it a nice color and a bit more flavor. If I make it again I will add just a hint of chili powder or cayenne pepper to add a little kick.
Super yummy!! Although, I did change it up a bit. My husband is somewhat critical when it comes to dinner and I always try to look for recipes that he will find “bomb” (usually when he thinks something tastes amazingly good, he says “that was bomb”. With this one, I doubled the carrots, used 1 celery stalk without the top and bottom, ditched the rosemary and onion (we both can’t stand onions, used MAPLE bacon instead of pancetta, used one tablespoon of ground thyme, and I used both parmesan and mozerella cheeses. Also, I topped it with italian breadcrumbs. Will DEFINITELY be making this again =