Pasta e Fagioli

Method

1. fry5 min
   medium, until the fat renders
   pancetta in the oil until its edges brown — the rendered pork fat is the flavor base of the soffritto to come; vegetarians skip it and lean on the Parmesan rind instead
2. sweat8 min
   medium-low
   onion + carrot + celery until soft and sweet, garlic + rosemary for the last minute — the soffritto cooked properly is most of what separates this from canned minestrone
3. toast2 min
   medium, until brick-colored
   + tomato paste fried onto the vegetables until it darkens — pasta e fagioli is not a tomato soup; the paste is a seasoning here, cooked until its rawness leaves
4. simmer15 min
   medium-low, rind in if you have it
   + beans with their liquid + stock — the bean liquid is starchy gold, not something to rinse away; a Parmesan rind dropped in now does what hours of bones would
5. mash2 min
   a cup of beans, against the pot
   roughly a quarter of the beans crushed into the broth — the signature body: creamy from its own beans, no cream anywhere near it
6. simmer10 min
   pasta in the pot, until al dente
   + pasta cooked directly in the soup + salt + pepper — its starch finishes the thickening; but pasta keeps drinking broth forever, so leftovers want the pasta cooked and stored apart, or the soup becomes a bake
7. top1 min
   with Parmesan and a thread of raw olive oil in each bowl — the finishing oil is traditional and functional: its pepperiness is the only heat the classic version carries