I can’t believe I just returned from my 13th HOW Design Live conference, which took place in Boston this year. (Ironically, the last time I visited Beantown was in 2014 to attend the same event.) While there, I largely subsisted on coffee, RXBARs, salads (like this and this) and snacks.
Needless to say, I was ready for a change of pace as soon as I got back to the Bay Area. Thankfully, I had some vegan pasta e fagioli on hand that I could reheat and eat. (The recipe yields a huge pot – i.e., too much for one person to consume in a week. So when I made the soup about a month ago, I stored half the batch in the freezer.)
This isn’t your typical pasta e fagioli. My version features chickpeas and nutritional yeast in lieu of cannellini beans and Parmesan cheese. And, as you probably guessed, it’s meat-free. But the finished product still has the same amazing flavor as the traditional Italian dish – I guarantee it.
Recipe adapted from FatFree Vegan Kitchen.
- 1½ cups dried chickpeas
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 7 garlic cloves, minced, divided
- 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon dried chili flakes
- 1 28 oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 3 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more, to taste
- 2 cups miniature rotelle or other short pasta
- 6 cups packed torn lacinato kale leaves
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Place chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with cold water; cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours. Drain well and set aside.
- In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 4 minutes.
- Add carrots, celery, half of the garlic, rosemary and chili flakes and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, 2 teaspoons basil, 1 teaspoon oregano and smoked paprika. Stir and bring to a boil.
- Add chickpeas, salt and 8 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 1½ hours. Add more water, if necessary, to keep chickpeas submerged.
- Add pasta along with remaining garlic, 1 teaspoon basil and 1 teaspoon oregano. Cook until pasta is al dente, about 5 minutes.
- Add kale and simmer until it wilts, about 1 minute.
- Add nutritional yeast and season with salt and pepper to taste.
