Pasta E Fagioli

Beans are such a mainstay for any vegan diet. It took me some time to really lean into the bean. TBH, they are just not my favourite. With that being said I eat them because I know they are good for me and in certain recipes, like this here soup, I adore them. I use Cannellini beans for this recipe but any white bean will do. I like cannellini because they are larger and therefore creamier than a smaller bean. As previously mentioned I used fresh beans for this soup. Honestly I always try to use fresh beans. I find they taste better and they are way more cost effective. Make sure to find the freshest beans possible. We bought bulk beans from our local store and they ended up being tired and stale. The beans basically fell apart during the soaking process. The skins fell off and the beans were breaking apart. Not a good batch of beans. Your dried beans should be smooth and without any wrinkly skin or spots (unless they are naturally speckled). All was not lost on the older beans, the mister made a chilli and I bought fresher beans for this soup.

I used anellini (gf) pasta for this soup but any short small noodle will work. I have seen the noodles cooked right in the pasta but I prefer to undercook the noodles separately and then add them into the soup. Nobody wants gummy starchy soup with over cooked noodles. When cooking the noodles, cook for half of the recommended time. The noodles will continue to cook in the hot soup. I didn’t find I needed to add any broth to the soup as the liquid from the beans was sufficient but if you like a more brothy soup, add water or broth! Have fun with this one my friends!