A warming, hearty dish from the cucina povera tradition of Southern Italy
Dark, rich, warming and hearty - this is what my gran would make and I would wolf down. A traditional dish from Southern Italy. Made famous by Martin Scorsese and The Sopranos. Dean Martin also sings of "pasta fazul" (apparently that's amore). There is a northern version that is closer to minestra. The lard is not lard! It is an Italian delicacy: sliced thinly and often spread on toast - it has a dark, distinctive tase. If you can't get any - no matter! I wouldn't try substituting anything for it; it really is a distinctive flavour.
INGREDIENTS
celery
onion
carrot
garlic
bacon or ham or pork
lardo
borlotti beans - other beans are fine, but borlotti are authentic to this dish
passata
bay leaves
ditali pasta - again, anything you fancy - but short - like macaroni works well here. Ditali is what my gran would use
stock - ham, chicken, vegetable - whichever you have
rosemary
Watch the video
METHOD
Finely chop up the carrot, celery, onion and garlic
Heat oil in a pan and add the sofritto (the chopped veg)
Cook this down - "sweat it" as they say - for a good 10-15 minutes till it's soft
Meanwhile, chop up the rosemary
finely dice the bacon and the lardo
Add the meat to the sofritto
Stir it in and let it cook for 5-10 minutes
Add the beans and stir them through
Add the bay leaves and cook for about 10 minutes
Add the passata - I clean out the jar with hot water and add that too
Stir it all together, cook for about 10 minutes
Take a couple of ladles of the broth and pop them into a bowl or jug
Add the stock - 700ml - 1L
Add 250g - 300g of pasta
Stir and cover
Cook for about 20 minutes
Blitz up the ladles of broth you took
When the pasta is cooked, add the blitzed broth and the rosemary and stir it through
Pop the lid on and cook for another 10 minutes or so
Plate up and serve with grated parmesan