Meet Advanced Apprentice | Tori Vitanza
October 25, 2018
By Tori Vitanza
I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of “HOME.” Is it a place, being a specific region or structure? Is it the group of people who inhabit a place, chosen family or otherwise? Is it the feeling that fills you when you enter a space? The answer may be any combination of these things (and many others!), but for me recently it is a deliberate combination of ingredients in a dish. That dish is PASTA FAZOOLE.
I made a pot of pasta fagioli last weekend that my grandmother would be proud of. Here is the recipe:
- 1.5 c QHF beans, soaked overnight (as seen in this year’s winter share)
- Celery stalks, halved lengthwise
- Carrots, halved lengthwise
- Garlic bulb, halved crosswise
- Bay leaves
- Smoked, dried peppers (also part of the winter share)
- Bunch of parsley
- Sprig of rosemary
- Parmesan rind
Combine 8 c water and above ingredients - boil, then simmer and let hang out for 1.5 hours. Remove everything but beans from the pot. Salt. You can compost the aromatics, but I like to have them as snacks.
Meanwhile, sautee 1 onion and some garlic in olive oil. Add a bag of thawed QHF frozen tomatoes (*cough* winter share *cough*) and reduce a little. Add 1 c white wine and reduce almost completely. Add tomato mixture to bean juice and cook for at least 20 mins until those flavors meld, BABY! Salt. Next, add pasta (ditalini is best, but you can make it work with whatever you have) and cook until al dente. Throw some torn escarole in there and you’re all set. Serve with grated parm. Enjoy on a sleepy Sunday afternoon. Welcome home.
Recipe adapted from the wisdom of my Italian ancestors and Bon Appetit mag (don’t tell the ancestors, but sometimes I need support from a source that is actually written down).
Hope you enjoy,
Tori Vitanza