Ingredients for 4/5 people

 

• 1 lb dry beans (half kidney beans/ half pinto beans)

• 1 vegetable bouillon

• ½ lb ditalini pasta

• 1 yellow onion

• 1 celery stock

• 2 carrots

• 4 slice of bacon

• rosemary (3/4 stick)

• salt and pepper

• parmigiano cheese

• olive oil

 

DIRECTIONS:

Rinse the beans, place in a large bowl and add enough water to cover by a couple of inches. Allow to soak overnight. If in a hurry, you can place the beans in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to soak for 2 hours.

Drain the beans from the soaking liquid, and place in a large pot. Cover with water by 1 1/2 inches, and add the onion cut in halves, celery, carrots (cut in big chunks), sliced bacon cut into stripes and season with salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and allow to cook until the beans are quite soft, at least 2 hour. The length of time will vary significantly, depending on the type, size and age of the bean. Some recipes recommend cooking the beans for 4 hours. If you are keeping some or all of the beans whole, you will want them to still be firm enough to hold together, so some firmness is desirable here.

Using an immersion blender mix all the beans until smooth.

In a separate pot, bring water to boil, then add salt and toss pasta and cook very “al dente”.

Add the pasta to the hot soup and serve sprinkling with parmigiano cheese and olive oil on top.