Summer Style Pasta e Fagioli

Spring, summer, they both seem to be so far, unreachable... after all this rain, I'm thinking summer this year might have gone on a looooooooong vacation, somewhere else. No, no, no, I'm not complaining... at least not too much, because then it might hit again like last year and that wouldn't be nice either.
Summer is not only the hot weather, summer for me is, first of all, variety of colourful food on the table. Salads, light pasta dishes, quick and easy meat or fish dishes. And always, lots of veggies.
Therefore, a classical dish from Italian cousine, Pasta e fagioli, must lighten up as well.

Otherwise, just thinking of a heavy soup would put you off. Instead, this version (vegetarian) is perfect for summer as well.
I particularly like preparing it during late spring and throughout summer when fresh borlotti beans are available. They are more tender, and need less time to be cooked, don't need to be soaked overnight. And also because I can't resist the beautiful colour of their pods. And the beans as well, although they loose their colour when cooked.
So forget about pancetta, but enjoy every spoonful of this delicious soup.
You could also cut one step, that is to say, add the tomatoes directly to the pot with the beans and vegetables, but trust me, roasted tomatoes add much more flavour, so I never skip that part.
To be honest, I prepare Pasta e fagioli this way all year round, because once the fresh beans are not available any more, stores carry the frozen ones that are equally good. And sometimes I sub the beans with the chickpeas.
You might add some other summer veggies, too, like bell peppers, and to get most of the flavour, roast them in the oven first, just like the tomatoes, cut into smaller pieces, with herbs and olive oil.


                                   

Summer Pasta and Fagioli (Pasta with beans)

* 300 g fresh borlotti beans (or frozen)
* 1 potato
* 1 onion
* 1 carrot
* 1 stalk of cellery
* 1 clove of garlic
* 1 bay leaf
* extra virgin olive oil
* 150 g small size pasta (e.g. ditalini)
* about 15 cherry tomatoes

Remove the beans from the pods (if using frozen ones, no need to thaw them) and put them in a pot. Add the chopped potato, carrot, cellery and onion, as well as garlic clove and bay leaf. Add about 1,5 liters water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to meadium and cook covered for about 1 hour or until the beans are tender. Add salt and pepper to your taste, but only towards the end.
In the meantime, cut the tomatoes in half and put them on a baking tin, cut side up. Salt and sprinkle with herbs (thyme, basil, herbs of Provance, or whatever you prefer), drizzle with olive oil and roast them in the oven preheated to 200°C for about 20 minutes.
Take them out of the oven, and when they've cooled a little peel the skin and chop them. Add the tomatoes to the soup.
When the beans are cooked, remove the bay leaf, and pass about half  of the beans and vegetables through a food mill (no blender or food processor).  Put them back to the pot with the whole beans.
Add the pasta you cooked al dente in another pot, cook everything together shortly and it's ready to be served. This dish can be served hot, warm or cold. It can be prepared ahead and refrigerated, but add the pasta only when ready to serve.
Add a drizzle of olive oil to each plate.

Pasta e fagioli estiva


* 300 g fagioli borlotti freschi o surgelati
* 1 patata
* 1 cipolla
* 1 carota
* 1 gambo di sedano
* 1 spicchio d'aglio
* 1 foglia di alloro
* olio extra vergine d'oliva
* 150 g pasta corta (per esempio ditalini)
* circa 15 pomodorini 

Sgranate i fagioli e metteteli in una pentola, aggiungendo la carota, la patata, la cipolla e il sedano tagliati grossolanamente, l'aglio e l'alloro. Versate nella pentola circa 1,5 l di acqua e 2 cucchiai di olio EVO.
Portate a bollore, e continuate a cuocere coperto a fuoco medio per circa un'ora. Salate e pepate verso fine cottura.
Nel frattempo tagliate i pomodorini a metà e sistemateli su una placca da forno con il lato tagliato verso l'alto. Salateli e cospargete con delle erbe fresche o secche (timo, basilico, erbe di Provenza...), irrorate con un po' di olio e infornate per 20 minuti a 200°C. Toglietele dal forno, aspettate che si raffreddino un po' e poi pelatele e tagliate a pezzettini. 
Aggiungete i pomodori alla zuppa. 
Quando i fagioli sono cotti, prelevatene circa metà (insieme alle verdure), togliendo prima l'alloro, e passateli al passaverdure. Rimettete i fagioli passati nella pentola, aggiungete la pasta cotta a parte, lasciate insaporire tutto per un paio di minuti.
Potete servirla calda, tiepida o anche fredda. La zuppa da sola (senza pasta) può essere conservata in frigorifero.
Nel momento di servirla, aggiungere un filo d'olio direttamente nel piatto.

Ljetna pasta fažol

* 300 g svježeg mladog graha (može i smrznuti)
* 1 krumpir
* 1 glavica crvenog luka
* 1 mrkva
* 1 stapka celera
* 1 češanj češnjaka
* 1 list lovora
* maslinovo ulje
* 150 g kratke tjestenine (npr. ditalini)
* 15-ak zrelih cherry rajčica

Očistite grah i stavite ga u lonac. Dodajte očišćene i krupno narezane luk, krumpir, mrkvu i celer, češnjak i lovor. Prelijte sve s oko 1, 5 l vode, dodajte 2 žlice maslinovog ulja.
Stavite kuhati, kad provrije, smanjite vatru na srednje jaku i kuhajte oko 1 sat, dok grah nije kuhan, povremeno miješajući. Pred kraj posolite i popaprite po ukusu. Ako ispari previše vode ili volite da je rjeđe, dodajte u kuhanju još vode.
U međuvremenu prerežite rajčice na pola (odstranite dio sjemenki), stavite ih na pleh obložen papirom za pečenje, pospite s malo maslinovog ulja i začinskim biljem po želji (mješavina provansalskog bilja, ili timijan, bosiljak i dr.). Stavite peći rajčice na 200°C oko 20-ak minuta. Pečenim rajčicama odstranite kožu i narežite ih sitno nožem ili ih kratko smrvite štapnim mikserom.
Kad je grah kuhan, izvadite otprilike polovicu, a ostatak propasirajte (odstranite lovor). Pomiješajte opet sve, dodajte rajčice i skuhanu tjesteninu. Kratko sve zajedno prokuhajte. Poslužite toplo, mlako ili hladno, i po želji dodajte još malo maslinovog ulja izravno u tanjur.

Grah možete pripremiti i dan ranije, samo nemojte odmah dodati tjesteninu.