Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – I love Italian food. I always have, even as a child. I mean, do you know a kid or a dog anywhere on the planet who doesn’t adore spaghetti?
That always was my favorite meal. In fact, as a second grader at the awful Sacred Heart school in South Plainfield, New Jersey – I never realized the survival benefits of announcing to my teacher, Miss Angelili, “I wish I was Italian.” It was totally because of the food, you know. Oh, you thought Jupina was an Italian name? Gotcha! Try swapping the “J” for a “Dz” and my eastern European heritage is revealed.
In the early ‘70’s, my schoolmate’s mom, Shirley, totally kicked butt in the kitchen. She was a really great cook and we all loved coming over to her house with the munchies and stuffing our faces. Shirley hated Richard Nixon as much as we did and it was so cool hanging out with a mom who was on the same page … especially in a town loaded with the “silent majority.”
Remember them? Incredible to consider that they were all younger than a lot of us are right now. Oh, wow.
Shirl was a beautiful blonde Italian who grew up in Union, New Jersey… and she made the most awesome “Pasta Fazool” – which is actually a soup made with pasta and beans. It was vegetarian – vegan, in fact. Remember those days of free love, vegetarianism, tons of beans, and all that screwing and farting?
We called it “pasta fazool” and it only took me about 20 years to figure out how to start spelling “fazool” right – the Italian word for bean – that it’s actually spelt “fagiolo” in Italian. What a relief that “pasta” is spelled the same way in Italian and English – Spanish, too, but you’re better off saying espaguetis in Spanish, unless you want to wind up with toothpaste.
So here’s Shirley’s recipe for a delicious, filling meal, great for a chilly day. The ingredients are few and cheap. And after you make a batch, you can freeze the extra, for an easy, tasty homemade meal when you’re in a rush… maybe to get to happy hour on time or something equally important. Again, Shirley’s recipe is not only vegetarian, it’s vegan – no animal protein, no dairy. Best of all, it is really good stuff.
It’s accidentally delicious, and if you manage the beans and pasta, it’s pretty low carb, too. ½ cup of cooked beans is only 21 carbs and, with this recipe, no way will you get that many beans in one serving. And one cup (16 tablespoons) of cooked pasta is 40 grams of carbohydrates. So 2 tablespoons would be 5 grams, and 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) would be 10 grams.
There’s another version I like even better, my bastardized recipe because I put lots of veggies and flavorful things in it and can still satisfy my Jones for pasta by adding just a teeny bit of pasta. Hey, I don’t want to look like a beached whale after all that stress eating, sitting at home during the apocalypse. If I pay attention to what I put in my mouth, I can eat well, deliciously and guilt-free. It’s actually pretty easy!
Shirley’s “No Recipe” Recipe for Pasta Fagiolo Soup
Sauté: Olive oil, 1 chopped green pepper and chopped garlic (to taste, as much as half a head)
Add: Tomatoes (1 large can, 1 can paste, 2 paste cans or more of water) (or instead of tomato paste, substitute Passata Rustica (crushed tomatoes or puree) such as Cirio brand 680 grams)
Add: Celery chunks and leaves, about 4 stalks
Add: Basil, salt, pepper, and if desired, hot red pepper flakes and garlic powder
At the end, the last 5 minutes, add: Chickpeas (garbanzo beans), or better yet, my fave is cannellini – white kidney beans (alubias grandes or white navy beans are also excellent) and cooked pasta al dente (something small and bite size, like ditalini or small shells or elbow macaroni)
Optional: serve with grated Italian cheese
In olive oil, gently sauté 1 chopped green pepper, about 2-3 minutes, and then add a whole bunch of coarsely chopped garlic, about ½ a head, till golden, about 2 minutes. Avoid burning the garlic, even if you must add a little water if the pot gets too hot. Add 1 large can of plum tomatoes or puree. Add 1 small can of tomato paste, plus 2 cans of water – plus more water to taste (or substitute passata rustica/crushed tomatoes or tomato puree). This should be soupy. Taste. Add 2 to 4 stalks of celery, cut up, to taste, and lots of basil, either fresh or dried. Add salt and pepper, hot red pepper flakes, maybe some garlic powder. Taste. Gently simmer for about an hour. Taste. At the end, add 1 can of chick peas, which have been drained and well rinsed. Do NOT cook the beans, just heat them.
At the very last, Shirley then added cooked al dente pasta into the pot of soup. I like to keep the pasta separate, so it won’t get mushy after several reheatings, and I can also control my carbs better by adding, say, 2 tablespoons of pasta into my soup bowl. The soup also freezes better without the pasta.
Serve with your favorite Italian cheese. Add a nice salad and you’ve got a meal!
Here’s one of my favorite salads and it’s only 4 ingredients: arugula, thinly sliced parmesano reggiano cheese (or another good hard Italian cheese, such as Grana Padano), good olive oil, balsamic vinegar. For an impressive presentation, spread the arugula around a large platter, arrange shaved cheese on top, and then drizzle with oil and balsamic.
Andrea’s Bastard Pasta Fagiolo Soup
I like a hearty, stew-like soup with meat, so I follow Shirley’s recipe and make these additions:
First, I take some skinless chicken pieces, generously sprinkle with garlic powder, and quickly brown them in olive oil. I prefer chicken with the bone, which is tastier. Then I add ½ head coarsely chopped garlic (bigger pieces won’t burn as easily) and 1 chopped green pepper, sautéed for about 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes (1 large can), then add 1 can of tomato paste plus 2 cans of water, or substitute Pasata Rustica (crushed tomatoes or tomato puree, such as Cirio brand, 680 g) and 1 box of chicken broth (about 1 quart or 1 liter).
In a pinch, I use the Knorr’s chicken stuff in a jar, mixed in water, but I prefer to make chicken broth out of a leftover rotisserie chicken carcass, then measure the broth, and freeze it for when I’m cooking. For an added hit of flavor, brown 1 or 2 links of Italian sausage (hot or sweet, your choice), cut into bite size pieces, and add to the soup. Add 4 stalks of celery chunks (or less, depending on how much you like celery). Add basil (fresh or dried), salt, pepper, hot red pepper flakes, maybe more garlic powder.
I always add pepperoni pieces (100 grams is good, a scant ¼ pound) for wonderful flavor. Personally, I think it’s hard to add too much pepperoni. I add more water, about 1 cup at a time. Taste. Gently simmer, covered, about an hour, longer if desired. Taste. If you accidentally add too much water, then cook uncovered to reduce the liquid. The last 10 minutes, add a good dash of red wine, at least ½ cup, and cook till the alcohol odor dissipates.
The fagiolo – beans – frijoles: At the end, add 1 can beans, whatever kind you like, drained and well rinsed. I like cannellini or white beans. Sometimes I soak dry beans the night before and then cook them till they’re done because they’re so much better than canned beans, but if you don’t like to play with food the way I do, hey, use the canned stuff. I use ½ cup dry beans because I want to keep my carb count down, but boy, they are such a good source of fiber. I add 1 tablespoon baking soda to the soaking beans – which reduces gassiness – and rinse them very well, to get rid of the baking soda taste. To reduce gassiness, you can cook the beans the way the Mexicans do, which is to add about 2 tablespoons worth of epazote sprigs, which is a Mexican herb. Cover the beans with water and simmer till they’re done but still retain their shape, firm but cooked through, about 30 minutes. Taste for doneness, drain and rinse. At the end, add the beans to the soup – don’t cook them, just warm them up – and add some fresh basil.
Turn the soup off, and optionally add 1 or 2 zucchinis or Mexican squash, cut into chunks. Keep covered to steam the squash – it cooks fast and you don’t want it getting mushy. I like to cut the zucchini longwise in half and again longwise into long, skinny quarters, then I cut them crosswise into fairly thick bite size pieces, about ½ inch thick. Sometimes I add some artichoke hearts, if I have them around. If I have any leftover water from steaming or boiling artichokes, that always adds something special to any soup.
Meanwhile, I cook up a little bit of pasta al dente and add about 2 tablespoons into my soup bowl (which is 5 grams of carbs, but no cheating, the spoons must be level), then add the hot soup. Serve with some good Italian grated cheese on top.
I keep the pasta separate. I do not add it to the pot of soup. If there’s leftover soup, it’s even better the second and third day. It freezes and reheats well. Be sure to label and date it and eat it in absolutely no more than 6 months, preferably sooner, before it starts to lose flavor or get freezer burn.
And here is the best kept secret, which I learned from my mom – a dietician, student nurse faculty, cooking teacher, degreed home economist and most importantly, a good, smart cook: whenever you have leftover pasta, do not mix it up with the sauce. Keep it separate. To reheat, bring a pot of water to boil. Add the leftover pasta for about 1 minute, until the water starts to boil, just long enough to get the pasta hot all the way through but without cooking it further. Drain in a colander. This tastes exactly like freshly cooked pasta. Try it, you’ll like it!
P.S. If you’re really counting carbs, you can skip the pasta altogether – it will still be delicious.
Copyright © 2022 by Andrea A. Jupina. All rights reserved.
Andrea Jupina lives in Puerto Vallarta full time. Over the past year, she has taken a break from writing her “Accidentally Delicious” column, but now she is back at it and, though we are all a little bit fatter, we couldn’t be happier! Join us in welcoming Andrea back by sending your questions or comments to andreajupina(at)gmail.com.
