Pasta and beans

To prepare the pasta and beans, first leave the dried beans to soak overnight 1. The next day, rinse them 2, transfer them to a saucepan, cover with plenty of cold water, add 2 bay leaves, and boil them for around 80 minutes 3.

Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients for the recipe. Start by peeling and finely chopping the onion, celery, and carrot 4, and then cut the prosciutto 5 and lard into strips 6.

Heat the oil in a pot, add a peeled clove of garlic and the chopped vegetables 7 and fry for around 5 minutes. Then add in the strips of prosciutto and lard 8 and cook for a couple more minutes. Remove the beans from the water using a slotted spoon and add them to the vegetable mixture 9.

Next, add a ladleful of the bean cooking water 10 to the mixture, setting the rest of the cooking water aside to use later. Now add the tomato purée 11 to the pot, season with salt moderately, add pepper, and cook for 20 minutes over medium heat, after which time you can add the pasta. Before adding the pasta, take two ladlefuls from the mixture and pour them into a container. Blend using an immersion blender 12 and set the resulting cream aside.

Add the ditaloni rigati pasta directly to the pot 13, cover with the cooking water from the beans, and allow the pasta to cook, stirring from time to time, still over medium heat. Once the pasta is cooked al dente, add the previously blended mixture 14 and the chopped rosemary, then turn off the heat 15, put the lid on, and leave to rest for 3 minutes. A final sprinkling of black pepper and your pasta and beans dish is ready to be served!