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A red bowl of Venetian pasta and beans garnished with a sprig of rosemary.

Pressure Cooker Venetian Pasta and Beans (Pasta e Fagioli Alla Veneta)


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5 from 3 reviews

  • Author: Mike Vrobel
  • Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
  • Yield: 8 cups 1x

Description

Pressure Cooker Venetian Pasta and Beans. Pasta e Fagioli Alla Veneta is hearty Northern Italian comfort food, quick and easy with this Instant Pot recipe.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 pound dried borlotti beans (aka cranberry beans)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 ounces diced pancetta
  • 1 medium onion, minced
  • 1 stalk celery, minced
  • 1 medium carrot, minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 10 cups water
  • 1 sprig Rosemary
  • 4- to 4.4 ounces pappardelle egg noodles, broken into bite-sized pieces (or extra-wide egg noodles)
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • Grated pecorino Romano for garnish

Instructions

  1. Sort and rinse the beans: Sort the borlotti beans, removing broken beans, stones, and any other non-bean material. Rinse the beans and set aside.
  2. Saute the pancetta and aromatics: Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in the pressure cooker pot over sauté mode until the oil is shimmering. (Use medium heat for a stovetop PC). Add the pancetta, onions, celery, carrot, garlic, and tomato paste. Sauté until the onions soften and the tomato paste starts to darken, about 6 minutes.
  3. Add the beans, water, salt, and rosemary: Stir the borlotti beans and the 10 cups of water into the pot. Add a teaspoon of fine sea salt, the rosemary sprig, and then lock the lid on the pressure cooker.
  4. Pressure Cook the beans for 40 minutes with a quick pressure release: Pressure cook on high pressure for 40 minutes in an electric pressure cooker (“Manual” or “Pressure Cook” mode in an Instant Pot), or 35 minutes in a stovetop PC. Quick release the pressure in the pot.
  5. Simmer the pasta, then serve: Remove the lid carefully, opening away from you – even when it’s not under pressure, the steam in the cooker is very hot. Set the cooker to sauté mode adjusted to high (medium-high heat), cover (but don't lock the lid), and bring to a simmer. Stir the pasta into the simmering beans and cook for 6 minutes, or the time on the pasta package. Stir in 1 teaspoon fine sea salt. Serve, sprinkling with grated pecorino Romano at the table.

Notes

My grocery stores sell pappardelle noodles in 8.8-ounce boxes, and each box has 4 nests of pasta. I use half of the package, two of the nests, and crumble the pasta into bite-sized pieces. (Whole pappardelle noodles are way too long to eat in a bean soup.)

Can’t find pappardelle noodles? Any flat, wide egg noodle will do. They're not "authentic Italian," but my local grocery stores carry lots of different brands of wide and extra-wide egg noodles, which don't need to be broken into pieces because they are already cut into short lengths for soup. Use 4 ounces - roughly 2 cups - of wide or extra-wide egg noodles.

Can’t find pancetta? Substitute 4 ounces of bacon.

I don’t soak the beans; it’s not necessary. If you do soak them overnight, cut the cooking time under pressure to about 15 minutes.

Tools

6 quart or larger pressure cooker (I love my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker)

Flat edged wooden spoon

Instant Pot glass lid (makes covering the pot to simmer the pasta easier)

  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • Category: Sunday Dinner
  • Method: Pressure Cooker
  • Cuisine: Italian