Caserecce e fagiolini (Pasta and Green Beans)

Frankpasta, pastas, soups and risottos/primi piatti16 Comments

Pasta and Green Beans

Weeknight dinners at our house much of the time revolve around pasta and vegetables. They are quick and easy, and the combinations are almost endless. For some reason, however, the combination of Pasta and Green Beans is not a particularly common one in Italian cooking, with the notable exception of trennette al pesto, which often includes green beans and potatoes. Perhaps it has something to do with the elongated shape of green beans, which can make them a bit awkward to pair with most pasta shapes.

Nevertheless, green beans and pasta can actually get along famously. There is a type of pasta (see photo left) variously called caserecce, gemelli or strozzapreti, which have a similar shape to green beans, so they pair nicely. And green beans get along famously with tomatoes, as in the classic fagiolini in umido, so it doesn’t take too much of a leap of the imagination to put the three elements—pasta, green beans and tomatoes—together. It’s a trio that you’re bound to like.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

  • 500g (1 lb) caserecce or other pasta
  • 500g (1 lb) green beans, trimmed
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
  • 250g (1/2) best quality canned tomatoes, crushed or whole
  • A handful of fresh mint or basil leaves
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Directions

Make a tomato sauce beginning with a soffritto of chopped onion sweated in olive oil along with a bit of garlic. When the onion is translucent and soft, add some crushed canned tomatoes (or chopped fresh tomatoes in season) along with a good handful of fresh mint leaves (or basil) and, if you like, some red pepper flakes—not too many, just enough to add a hint of spiciness. Allow the tomatoes to simmer until reduced to a saucy consistency, about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, parboil your green beans, trimmed and cut into sections about the same length as the pasta, in salted water until cooked just crisp-tender, and add to the tomato sauce to simmer and insaporire until the beans are quite tender.

In the same water in which the beans cooked, cook your pasta al dente and add to the green bean and tomato sauce.

Mix well, let it simmer for a minute or two for the flavors to meld and the pasta to absorb a bit of the sauce, then serve. If you like, fold in some pecorino cheese that you will have grated with the large holes of a four-sided grater, so they emerge as long strips, about the same length as the pasta and green beans.

Notes

Caserecce are really the perfect pasta shape to go with green beans, and are fairly easy to find, but you can use other ‘semi-long’ pasta shapes such as trofie, sedani or stringozzi. Also note that, confusingly, the term strozzapreti is used to describe a number of different types of pasta, so check the shape before you buy.

If you are pressed for time, you can also cook your green beans together with the pasta rather than separately, then add both to the tomato sauce. Your Pasta and Green Beans will be slightly less ‘beany’ (since the green beans will not have time to lend their flavor to both the cooking water and the sauce) but still quite good.

Print Recipe
Pasta and Green Beans

Caserecce e fagiolini (Pasta and Green Beans)

Total Time30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 500 g 1 lb caserecce or other pasta
  • 500 g 1 lb green beans, trimmed
  • 1 medium onion finely chopped
  • 1-2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
  • 250 g 1/2 best quality canned tomatoes, crushed or whole
  • A handful of fresh mint or basil leaves
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  • Make a tomato sauce beginning with a soffritto of chopped onion sweated in olive oil along with a bit of garlic. When the onion is translucent and soft, add some crushed canned tomatoes (or chopped fresh tomatoes in season) along with a good handful of fresh mint leaves (or basil) and, if you like, some red pepper flakes—not too many, just enough to add a hint of spiciness. Allow the tomatoes to simmer until reduced to a saucy consistency, about 10-15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, parboil your green beans, trimmed and cut into sections about the same length as the pasta, in salted water until cooked just crisp-tender, and add to the tomato sauce to simmer and insaporire until the beans are quite tender.
  • In the same water in which the beans cooked, cook your pasta al dente and add to the green bean and tomato sauce.
  • Mix well, let it simmer for a minute or two for the flavors to meld and the pasta to absorb a bit of the sauce, then serve. If you like, fold in some pecorino cheese that you will have grated with the large holes of a four-sided grater, so they emerge as long strips, about the same length as the pasta and green beans.

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16 Comments on “Caserecce e fagiolini (Pasta and Green Beans)”

  1. Reply

    We finally made your recipe last night after waiting for the first of the season, John Giusti Farms, Half Moon Bay, CA- green beans. To do these very finest, gorgeous green beans the justice they deserved, we used Casa Barone la conserva tradizionale Cherry Tomato Preserve (www.casabarone.it), 4-year aged Moliterno Pecorino (Basilicata) and opal and Genovese basil from our garden.
    Delizioso!
    Thank you so much for your inspiration. We will be making this dish often while these beans are in season. (wish there was a way to send you a photo of our dish)

  2. Reply

    Hello,Frank:-)
    Just want to give you a well deserved ‘Thank you’ for this lovely recipe which I made for dinner tonight. It was wonderful and if I grow too big for my clothes, I am blaming it on your recipes as I have no self control when confronted with a plate of something as delicious as this dish! Oh MAMA! 🙂
    For the sauce I used 3/4 of a can of REDPACK crushed tomatoes and it was the perfect amount of sauce for my taste and made for a quick recipe.
    Thank you!

  7. Reply

    Love your comment about measurements. Find it ever so hard to write recipes with measurements. 100 per cent of the time I follow my taste and instinct.
    This is the perfect dish for me, basic Italian flavours, good seasonal vegetables and pasta, cant get any better than that!!!

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