Eric Akis: Italian aromatherapy - Times Colonist

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If you’re in the mood for Italian-style comfort food, simmering up a pot of pasta e fagioli soup will sate you.

It’s toothsome, hearty and rib sticking and making it is a pleasurable experience one could call “aroma” therapy. Hard not to when the process involves cooking onions, peppers, garlic, herbs and tomato paste in olive oil until your kitchen fills with an appetizing fragrance that makes you feel good.

Those are the base flavours for this soup with two key ingredients, pasta and fagioli, which is Italian for beans.

Pasta e fagioli, like many other classic Italian dishes, began as a peasant dish. With at least budget-friendly beans and pasta in the pot you had the start of a filling meal. It was also a simple base, which you could add a lot of flavour to.

In different parts of Italy, what else initially got added to the pot depended on what was locally available, what else one could afford and personal taste. That’s why you now see many styles of pasta e fagioli. With variations on what vegetables are stirred in, if meat is added and if the texture of the dish is thin and brothy, or thicker and stew like.

My recipe flavoured the pasta and beans with the ingredients noted above. All were simmered in chicken stock and I also added fresh spinach (or kale) and Italian sausage meatballs. I simply made the latter by removing the casing from some Italian sausages, pulling the meat into nuggets, and then cooking them until golden brown.

Adding those bits of sausages made my soup a meal that could act as dinner, especially if you accompany it with good bread.

I like to serve foccacia bread with pasta e fagioli soup and today’s foccaccia recipe is just about as tasty as the soup, enhanced as it is with olives, oregano, lemon, coarse salt and pepper. And when it bakes, because it smells so good, you’ll enjoy another round of “aroma” therapy.

Pasta e Fagioli Soup with Sausage Meatballs


Serve this hearty soup for lunch or dinner. Leftover portions, once cooled, could also be frozen. Most versions of this soup cook the pasta right in the soup pot. I like to cook it separately, though, and then add it, as I find it holds its texture better and doesn’t become over-cooked and bloated.

Preparation: About 30 minutes

Cooking time: About 45 minutes

Makes: four to six servings

3/4 cup elbow macaroni

1/2 tsp olive oil

3 (each about 85 grams) mild, medium or hot Italian sausages

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium yellow or red pepper, diced

3 Tbsp tomato paste

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

5 cups chicken stock or broth

1 (19 oz./540 mL) can white kidney beans, drained

11/2 cups fresh baby spinach or baby kale, thickly sliced

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Bring about eight cups of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook until just tender, about seven minutes. Drain well, cool in ice-cold water, and drain well again. Set macaroni in a bowl add 1/2 tsp oil and toss to lightly coat. Cover and refrigerate macaroni until needed.

Remove the casing from each sausage and pull the meat into small, about two-cm nuggets.

Place 2 Tbsp oil in a tall, nine-inch wide pot and set over medium, medium-high heat. When hot, add the pieces of sausage and cook until nicely browned, about four to five minutes.

Lift the sausage meatballs out of the pot, drain on paper towels and set aside until needed.

Drain some the excess fat from the pot, leaving about 1 Tbsp behind. Set back over the heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook until softened, about three to four minutes. Add tomato paste, garlic, oregano and basil and cook one minute more.

Add the stock, reserved sausage and beans and bring the soup to a gentle simmer.

Simmer soup 15 minutes. Add macaroni and spinach or (kale) and simmer until pasta is heated through and the greens are wilted, about five minutes. Taste the soup and season with salt and pepper.

Let diner’s top bowls of the soup with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to taste.

Rustic Foccacia Bread with Olives


The olive-studded top of this focaccia bread is enhanced with oregano, lemon, coarse salt and black pepper. It’s best served warm.

Preparation: 25 minutes, plus rising time

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes: one large loaf

1 cup lukewarm (not hot) water

2 tsp traditional (active dry) instant yeast

1 Tbsp granulated sugar

1 large egg, beaten

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the bowl and drizzling

23/4 cup all-purpose flour

11/2 tsp dried oregano, plus some for sprinkling

1/2 tsp table (fine) salt

8 large garlic-stuffed green olives, each halved (see Note)

1 tsp grated lemon zest

• coarse sea salt and coarsely ground pepper

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the water and yeast and let stand five minutes, until the yeast has dissolved.

Mix in the sugar, egg and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add the flour, 11/2 tsp oregano and 1/2 tsp salt and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl (the dough is meant to be fairly soft). Mix and knead the dough for another five minutes.

Lightly grease a large, deep bowl and your fingers with olive oil. Place the kneaded dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in size, about 60 to 75 minutes.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and place the risen dough on it. Using your hands, gently press and stretch the dough into an oblong about 12 inches long and eight inches wide.

Push the half pieces of olive at various points on top of the dough. Now sprinkle the top of the dough with a little dried oregano, lemon zest, coarse salt and black pepper.

Allow the bread to rise for a further 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Bake the foccacia in the middle of the oven 20 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Drizzle the focaccia with a little olive oil, just before slicing and serving.

Note: Large, garlic-stuffed olives are sold in jars and in bulk at some supermarkets and Mediterranean food stores. If you can’t find them, use another type of stuffed olive, or simply use large, pitted green olives.

Eric Akis is the author of The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House). His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.

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