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Tubetti pasta: 200g/7 oz (or any small-sized pasta)
Cannellini beans: 120g/4 oz, dried
Vegetable broth: 1l/quart
Onion: 1
Carrots: 1
Celery: 1, stalk
Garlic: 2 cloves
Rosemary: 1 sprig
Tomato puree: 15g/1 tbsp
Sage: 6 leaves
Extra virgin olive oil: to taste
Salt: to taste
Black pepper: to taste
A winter recipe with a rich flavour? Try Tuscan pastina and beans, a quick and easy recipe taken from La Grande Cucina delle Osteria d'Italia.
A traditional winter recipe: Tuscan pastina and beans. The original recipe is taken from the Slow Food book, La Grande Cucina delle Osteria d'Italia.
To prepare the Tuscan pastina and beans recipe, start by soaking the beans overnight, then drain and boil them for a couple of hours in salted water with two sage leaves, a clove of garlic and a spoonful of extra virgin olive oil.
Chop the onion, carrot and celery. Brown the other clove of garlic, the rosemary and the remaining sage leaves in 60ml/4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
When the garlic is browned, remove it from the saucepan, also remove the sage and rosemary and replace them with the chopped herbs.
Fry well, then add the boiled beans. Leave to flavour and pour in the hot broth. Add the tomato puree and cook for about half an hour.
Take half the beans from the pan and puree them to give the mixture a good creaminess.
Combine the bean puree with the rest of the soup and cook the pasta.
Complete the Tuscan pastina and beans with a sprinkling of freshly ground pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
