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My dad was the son of Italian immigrants and never heard of “pasta fazool” (pasta e fagioli in proper Italian). It must have been popular among immigrant families of southern Italian descent. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta_e_fagioli
I made it the other day. It was peasant food back in what my father called "the other side". I stayed true to the recipe except for the onions. The key to making good pasta fajole is how you spice the tomato sauce. The sauce is the only thing that you can spice up. The mention of onions leads me to another food that the south Italians ate when there was no beans or pasta. It's called pane e cipola ( bread and onions ). Pane e cipola was eaten when things were really bad.
My father's favorite soup. We're not Italian, but I remember him lecturing the waitstaff in restaurants on what he thought the perfect pasta fazool should taste like. SIGH.
We used to be able to get Pasta Fazool at the concession stand during high school football games at a local Catholic school before they closed. Heavily Italian area (Roseto PA).
And Progresso has been offering canned Macaroni and Bean soup (Pasta e fagioli) for many years. But home made is best.
My mother made it w/ white beans. The neighbor down the street made it w/ green peas. I liked the peas better, but the real deal was probably w/ white beans.
I don't know if it's authentic Italian from the southern region or not. I think it was popularized by Olive Garden to be honest. It's very filling.
I make it in a crockpot. I think of it as Italian chili.
Probably a regional thing. I agree with MQ---in places where chains might dominate Italian food, it might be the case. It is, and has been, a pretty common staple in Italian places for as long as I can remember and even in markets where they have soup selections.
Maybe I will make some this winter---my husband was saying how long it has been since he's had it. He used to have it regularly as a kid because his nanny (from Naples) used to make it on Sundays. Though, we don't pronounce it "fazool" and I am having a hard time putting it down phonetically without explanation.
Such a simple dish to prepare with spaghetti sauce, cannellini beans and ditalini. We call it pasta fagiol. 2nd and 3rd gen Italians call it pasta fazool. I like mine with a thick sauce. Hubby adds pasta water to make it more soup like. Before serving we add grated locatelli romano and some hot peppers. Delizioso!
Grains and legumes, plenty of protein, easy to prepare and, accompanied with salad and olive oil, a full and fully nutritious meal by itself, and INEXPENSIVE.
Not like the overpriced sugary and otherwise processed crap masquerading as food too easily available to most people nowadays.
Yes, it's possible to overeat pasta fagioli and get fat.
Anyway, grains and legumes, just like Cubans and other Latin Americans eat lots of rice and beans, fully nutritious, simple and inexpensive, though overeating it without offsetting amounts of exercise leads to weight gain.
In other parts of the world, it's lentils and rice.
Or pasta lenticchie.
Grains and legumes, then, the feeding grasses of earth the world over.
Bahamian rice and green peas..
I ate at a Greek restaurant in Nassau. Fresh-caught fish, maybe snapper? with olives and lemon, salad with feta, and a side of peas and rice. Perfect blend of two cultures!
Like almost all Italian dishes, different parts of Italy have different versions of this even in northern Italy. It's simply an Italian bean soup with some pasta added to it.
Both my parents are Italian from Northern Italy and I ate this dish as a child although not often. It was never popular in my family but it was good none the less. Now I think I'll make some later this month.
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