Place the beans to soak in a cold water and a ½ tsp baking soda for 12 hours to soften them. Pour the flour out onto a work surface and form a well. Break the eggs in the center and work together to form a dough.

Let dough rest for 20 minutes.

Using a rolling pin or pasta maker, roll out the dough into thin sheets, only 1/8 inch thick. Lightly flour the dough and fold it up like an accordian. Use a knife to cut 1/10 inch wide noodles. Unfold the pasta and stretch it out on a lightly floured dish.

Let dry for 10 minutes. Then, using a knife or your hands, tear apart the noodles so that you have pasta that is less than an inch long.

Place a pot over medium heat. Add 1/3 of the olive oil and butter. Once the butter has melted, add finely chopped onion and, as soon as it is golden, add diced pancetta, tomato sauce, beans and 10 cups warm water.

Adjust the salt and pepper and leave on the heat to cook.

After 45 minutes, remove half of the beans and pass them trhough a food mill. Return the pureed beans to the pot. Once the soup begins to boil again, add the maltagliati pasta and cook for 5 minutes.

Serve pasta and beans hot with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and the remaining extra virgin olive oil.

Food History

For a long time, beans have been known as the “meat of the poor” due to their nutritional content and low cost because their abundance. These legumes are one of the few foods that exsisted both in Europe and in America, even if as different varieties, prior to Christopher Columbus’ voyages to the New World. Broad beans are originally from the Western areas of Asia and later spread to Egypt, then Greece and then to Ancient Rome where they were considered a food of the poor. Common beans (phaseolus vulgaris), on the other hand, have been grown in the New World for over 7,000 years and were imported to Europe by Christopher Columbus following his second voyage. After an initial period when the so-called “Spanish beans” were considered a rare and precious ingredient, offered to the most powerful people, the varieties of New World beans became more commonplace beacuse they grew easily and returned to being a food of the poor.

Other suggested recipes

• Roast saddle of pork tuscan-style with dried mushrooms and beans with fresh olive oil 
• Pasta with Chickpeas 
• Soup with pumpkin and barley