Tag Archive for: recipes with beans

Can you think of those simple flavours that spark memories?  Oat pasta with cannellini beans is the perfect combination of traditional flavours and a touch of novelty.

One of the most typical dishes of Italian cuisine is in fact Pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans), a recipe often prepared with Borlotti beans and the addition of lard or bacon, which in the past were useful to give the necessary energy to face the hard work in the fields.

Instead, this version of Pasta e fagioli uses cannellini beans combined with oat pasta, where the wheat protein, gluten, is replaced by the high protein content in oat. Remember that beans are a valuable source of complex carbohydrates, plant proteins, fibre and are cholesterol-free, so the consumption of legumes is always a valuable ally in a balanced diet.

The flavour variation is the presence of sautéed cherry tomatoes with aromatic herbs that transform a classic taste into a fresher, juicier one.

If you love beans and tradition, try my Pisarei e fasò.

Oat pasta with cannellini beans

carbohydrates 13.63g per 100g

Mezzi-rigatoni-di-avena-ai-cannellini

Ingredients for 4 servings

  • 500g boiled cannellini beans (about 180g dry beans)
  • 240g cherry tomatoes
  • 140 g Oat pasta Felicia**
  • 1 shallots
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • dried sweet pepper or Crusco pepper
  • bay leaf
  • oregano
  • thyme
  • rosemary
  • chilli pepper
  • salt and pepper

**Ingredients specific for celiacs

*Ingredients whose labels must read “gluten free” (or, in Italy, present on  Prontuario AIC)

Preparation

  1. Soak the cannellini beans for at least 12 hours, then boil them slowly in plenty of water with the addition of a bay leaf and, if available, a piece of Kombu seaweed to facilitate the beans’ future digestibility. Drain the beans and keep the cooking water.
  2. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and sautée them for a few minutes on high heat in a non-stick pan with a little extra virgin olive oil, a clove of garlic cut in half, a chilli pepper and chopped herbs.
  3. Put a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil in a pan, brown a finely chopped shallot and a clove of garlic and add the cooked cannellini beans, cover with plenty of cooking water or vegetable stock and leave them to take on flavour for 10 minutes.
  4. Keep a few tablespoons of cannellini beans aside and blend the rest with an immersion blender, then reassemble the bean soup.
  5. Cook the oat pasta in plenty of salted water, drain and pour it into the cannellini soup, then complete the dish: place the pasta and beans on individual plates, complete with the herb flavoured tomatoes, a grinding of pepper, a drizzle of oil and some chopped dried sweet pepper or Crusco pepper.

Version with gluten of Oat pasta with cannellini beans

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients.

Today we have come up with a dish that can become a light main course or a perfect side dish to enrich a meal. Simple, genuine, tasty and ideal for any palate: one ingredient and herbs and you’re done, Mint flavoured beans.

Here’s how to prepare them for a fresh, healthy, naturally gluten-free and diabetes-friendly dish, perhaps accompanied by seasonal vegetables. I chose Borlotti beans that are very common in northern Italy, but feel free to pick your favourite beans for this salad.

And if you want an idea for another fresh and tasty salad, try this irresistible Swordfish salad.

Mint flavoured beans

18.56g carbohydrates per 100g

Ingredients

  • 160g dried borlotti or white beans (soaked for 12 hours)
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 clove garlic
  • extra virgin olive oil, mint, salt and black or pink pepper

Preparation

  1. Boil the beans in water with celery and garlic; once cooked, remove the latter and drain the beans.
  2. Let the beans cool and season them with fresh mint leaves, a good extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper: it is a very simple dish, but really rich in flavour and aroma.

fagioli alla menta

Version with gluten of Mint flavoured beans

The recipe contains only naturally gluten-free ingredients, so no adaptation is necessary for its version with gluten.