Name: Pasta & Bean Soup (Minestra Pasta e Fagioli)
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 100 ml/3½ fl oz extra virgin olive oil, warmed; 250 g/9 oz pasta, such as ditali or macaroni, or noodles snapped into short lengths; 2 medium onions, chopped; 2 carrots, chopped; freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to serve; 3 celery sticks, chopped; 2 branches of flat-leaf parsley; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 250 g/9 oz pancetta, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 500 g/1 lb 2 oz dried beans, such as borlotti or cannellini, soaked overnight in cold water; 2 sprigs of oregano; 4 tablespoons olive oil; a sprig of rosemary; 400 g/14 oz tinned tomatoes, drained and chopped

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Eagle Cookbook

By David Eyre

Published 2009

About

Minestrone is literally a ‘big soup’, which uses lots of different ingredients and epitomises earthy, meal-in-a-bowl eating. If you don’t intend to eat the soup straight away, or if you are making enough for more than one meal, don’t cook the pasta in the soup or it will eventually become soggy. Instead, cook it separately just before you eat and add it to the soup as you serve it.