Master Recipe: Pasta With Beans And Vegetables

Whenever I make pasta with beans and vegetables for a quick weeknight dinner, I keep a few key steps in mind. I’m allowed to freestyle, but those key steps guarantee a successful dish just about every time.

Here’s what I do:

First, I bring a large pot of water and a couple of teaspoons of kosher salt to a boil. When the water boils, I add the pasta and cook it until it’s al dente.

Meanwhile, I heat a little olive oil (or butter) in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot and shimmering, I add in a handful of some member of the onion family for earthy background flavor; in this case it was green onions, but it could have been half a yellow onion, red onion, leek or spring onion.

Next, I chop and toss in any vegetable that I want to be the pasta’s starring ingredient — in this case it was mushrooms, but it could have been broccoli, broccoli raab or another green. Or maybe radicchio, carrots or bell peppers.

I season everything with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, then just leave the pan alone for a couple of minutes. By resisting the urge to stir, I let the vegetables brown and develop flavor.

Next, if I’m craving something spicy, I’ll toss in a diced chile pepper. Here it was a red jalapeno, but it could have been a Thai chile, serrano, habanero or a few red pepper flakes. If a chile is really hot I may seed it first.

If I’m craving a tomato-based sauce, I’ll make room in the pan for a little tomato paste. (Lidia Bastianich calls it a hot spot.)

The tomato paste adds richness and depth to the sauce, and browning it a little intensifies its flavor. I stir it around a little on its own before stirring it into the sauce.

To complete the tomato sauce, I add in about half of a 15-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes and their juices, squeezing the tomatoes to break them up as they go into the pan.

I often add rinsed and drained canned beans to vegetarian pastas to lend them a little of that missing meaty texture and protein. These were white beans, but they could have been red beans, black beans, kidney beans or chickpeas.

I stir to warm the beans through for a few minutes, then check the sauce’s consistency — it should be thick enough to cling to, and thin enough to coat the pasta. If it’s too thick, I’ll ladle in a little of the reserved pasta water. If it’s too thin, I’ll simmer it a little bit longer.

When the consistency is right, I add the drained pasta to the pan and toss to coat it with the sauce. With vegetables and beans I like a short, textured pasta like rotini, penne or farfalle.

To finish the pasta I sprinkle in a handful of something green and fresh — in this case it was thinly sliced green onions, but it’s often an herb like thyme, parsley, rosemary, chervil or basil.

I take the pan off the heat and toss in a handful of grated, usually Italian cheese like parmesan, pecorino or grana padano. (I left the cheese out of this one). Then I’ll drizzle in a little olive oil to add body, richness and raw flavor, plus some salt and pepper.

Any basic pastas you always come back to?