Pasta Fagioli (pasta and beans)

This post is part of our update of  meals from the past few months using recipes based on published recipes. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.


Another surprising pressure cooker success was Pasta Fazool (p46) from Chinda Chavich's 125 Best Pressure Cooker Recipes. I didn't expect much from this dish, but it turned out really tasty. I also included some cook along potatoes. Also, one thing that's nice about 125 Best Pressure Cooker Recipes is that each recipe has both imperial and metric measurements. (Pressure Perfect has only imperial.)

6L Pressure Cooker -- 15 minutes and natural release. Cook pasta 7 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 can kidney or navy beans 
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 stalks celery -- chopped
• 1 large onion -- chopped
• 1 carrot -- chopped
• 125 g prosciutto -- chopped
• 2 cloves garlic -- chopped
• 1 tbsp dried rosemary
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1 can (400 mL) diced tomatoes
• 3 cups chicken stock (or use rib broth)
• 1.5 cups short dried pasta (penne, rotini...)
• 1 large sweet potato -- peeled and sliced into 1 inch slices
• salt and pepper

Directions

• Heat oil over medium heat.
• Add celery, onion, carrot, prosciutto, and garlic.
• Saute until onion browns.
• Stir in beans, rosemary, basil, chili powder, stock, and tomatoes (do not stir after adding tomatoes).
• Place sweet potatoes on top of mixture.
• Lock lid and bring to high heat.
• Once high pressure is reached, cook for 15 minutes.
• Turn off heat.
• Allow pressure to drop naturally.
• Stir in pasta and simmer uncovered for 7 minutes or until pasta is tender.