Beans and pasta may seem like an odd combination, but it works. Consider the Italian classic pasta e fagioli with beans and macaroni. When I was first married we ate it a lot. It wasn’t until Lidia Bastianich had her show on PBS that I found out stirring a can of Campbell’s baked beans into prepared box macaroni was a poverty driven interpretation of the recipe. Pasta with roasted tomatoes and white beans is nothing like my honeymoon pasta. It’s an easy to prepare meal with minimal hands on time. There’s no meat in this preparation, making it a perfect choice for a Meatless Monday meal.
This pasta dish is based on one by Ellie Krieger, the current featured chef at I Heart Cooking Clubs. It’s loaded with sweet roasted tomatoes, garlic and spinach along with fat white beans. Even though it’s not orange, it tastes really good and the leftovers heat up well, too.
Despite it being so late in October, the markets have a lot of little cherry tomatoes in all varieties. I cut them in half for roasting and roasted an entire head of garlic at the same time. Four cloves were used to make the dish and the rest are currently enjoying an olive oil bath in the fridge while waiting their turn to be used.
Some of the comments on the original recipe indicated they found it to be bland as written. With that in mind, I increased the proportion of veggies to pasta and included more herbs for seasoning. I was unable to find fresh basil in the market so for a little green color I added a generous double handful of spinach.
Ingredients
- Cherry tomatoes cut in half (about 1/2 pound)
- 4 cloves garlic unpeeled
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon each dried basil oregano, parsley, thyme (adjust to suit)
- salt pepper and red pepper flake to taste
- 2 cups cannellini beans or similar I used something similar to butter beans
- 1/2 pound penne pasta cooked, reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid
- 2 generous handfuls fresh spinach
- Grated Parmesan or other hard cheese to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F
- Put the cut up tomatoes in a heat proof baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Season with the herbs and salt and pepper.
- Drop in the garlic cloves and roast until the tomatoes are soft and tender with a little caramelization, about 30 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on the garlic and remove it early if needed. (I cut the top of an entire head and wrapped it in foil along with a good drizzle of olive oil)
- Remove and set aside until the pasta is ready. Peel the garlic and mince finely.
- Start a large pot of water boiling after the tomatoes have been in the oven for 10 minutes or so.
- Cook the pasta as directed.
- Meanwhile drain and rinse the beans and leave them in the colander.
- Reserve a cup of the cooking liquid and pour the rest of the pasta over the beans in the colander to warm them.
- Return the pasta to the cooking pot and stir in the roasted tomatoes, minced garlic, fresh spinach and the reserved cooking liquid.
- Transfer to a serving dish and grate Parmesan cheese over top.
You can make all sorts of variations on this recipe by swapping out various veggies and beans. Try roasted broccoli or pisto. Instead of white beans you could try garbanzos or pintos. You can even make it omnivore friendly by adding some sort of meat…you don’t need much so it’s perfect for using up leftovers. Have fun!
It looks amazing, Lydia! Love the roasted tomatoes idea, they go perfectly with this dish! I’m gonna make this to hubby, he’ll love it!
Hope you all enjoy it, Petro 🙂
Hi Lydia, great seeing you cooking with IHCC. 🙂
This is exactly my kind of meal! I love the addition of beans and also love the way you added in extra veggies to up the flavor. This is a gorgeous and colorful dish that is very appealing to the eye. Pinning it to make during our time with Ellie! Thanks for joining in with us!
Thank you, Kim! I’m looking forward to making more good food with you all 🙂
Delicious plate of pasta! With roasted sweet tomatoes already sounds so good!
I see you made pasta as well, albeit with very different flavors! 🙂
I love white beans and pasta. This recipe looks similar to one I have that includes arugula, pasta and pistachios. Great choice and this looks like a good recipe.
Now I’m curious about how pistachios and pasta. Sounds fantastic!
Looks like the perfect comfort food dinner–simple and hearty. I also would keep the spinach in even if I had the basil! 😉
You could probably use just about any type of green and it will be good 🙂
Lots of healthy goodies here.
And plenty of flavor 🙂 Thanks!
That does sound good! I like the addition of the spinach.
Thanks! We liked the spinach, too. Naturally I found basil in the store the day after I made this…I would have happily used both 🙂
Oh yes that does sound good. I love most any recipe that centers around beans. 🙂
Me, too, Rosey. There are so many different kinds, each with their own little “personality” 🙂
Beans and pasta really are a wonderful combination. And one we eat a lot. Love the idea of the roasted tomatoes in this — need to try that. Thanks!
Have you tried dumping a can of pork n beans into the mac n cheese? I can’t believe what I used to eat “back in the day.” hahaha
Nothing like roasted tomatoes and garlic to dress up a pasta dish. Yours looks very dressed up and camera ready!
I like to roast tomatoes anytime, but especially when the tomatoes are out of season. Thanks for dropping by! 🙂
Sounds really good and a dish that would fill up my belly very quickly! Unfortunately too many carbs for a diabetic between the beans and the pasta!
That’s too bad, Miki. I’m sure you have other favorites 🙂
Looking really good! I’ll be over for lunch, what time will you have it ready?
Around 2pm 🙂
That pasta dish looks so good. I love that you added white beans to it.
It makes a nice change 🙂
This looks so delicious and pretty easy to make. I think I’ll add it into our meal planning and see how it goes over!
It was pretty uncomplicated and it can definitely be dressed up or down to suit your family 🙂
I love the addition of beans to the pasta to fill you up with a little extra protein. This sounds like a recipe I would really enjoy.
We really enjoyed it. The leftovers were great, too!
Wow! This is so yummy and delicious. I really love pasta, combined with roasted tomatoes. OMG this is great.
I hope you get a chance to make it, Onica. Please let me know how you like it 🙂