Pasta e Fagioli al Forno

Back to work Monday. The big pipeline push started and it is going to be a long spring — a gathering line project in Pawnee County, which means a longer drive than I usually have, about an hour and twenty each way. I leave the house at five and I am back at six-thirty if nothing goes wrong, which in January it always goes wrong. A fitting that does not connect. A piece of equipment that will not start in the cold. A day that was supposed to be eight hours becoming twelve. Hannah has stopped asking what time I will be home on workdays and started asking if I will be home for dinner, which is the question that fits the actual range of outcomes.

I am not complaining. The money is good — pipeline work always pays well in Oklahoma, and the Cherokee Nation's education assistance covered what I needed for certifications and this is the result of that: a welder who makes good money doing necessary work in conditions that would destroy a man who had not been built for them. I was built for them. I know that about myself. The cold and the fire and the long days are not something I endure — they are something I fit. Danny built pipelines too, in his way, at the refinery. The job ran through him like a gene.

I made a big batch of venison and bean soup Sunday to get through the week. This is a winter routine: I cook something large on Sunday that will last three or four days, something that improves as it sits and that I can reheat in eight minutes when I get home and am too tired to do anything more complex. The soup has become a touchstone — venison broth, dried beans, dried corn, whatever greens Hannah has in the crisper. It is Cherokee food dressed as efficiency. Or efficiency dressed as Cherokee food. They arrive at the same pot.

Kai started a new session of Cherokee language class at Head Start this week. He came home Thursday and said "osiyo" to me, which is "hello" in Cherokee. I said "osiyo" back and he looked at me with the expression of a child who has just discovered that an adult he knows speaks the same secret language he has been learning. His face. I am going to remember his face.

The venison soup is the Sunday anchor, but I learned a long time ago from Danny that you keep a second batch recipe in rotation for the weeks when the freezer runs dry and you need something that will hold just as well — something with beans and heat and enough density to carry a man through a drive home in the dark. This baked pasta e fagioli is that recipe. It comes together while I’m cleaning up the kitchen Sunday evening, and by Wednesday it is still feeding us without complaint, which is exactly what I need from food right now.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 lb rigatoni or penne pasta
2 cans (15 oz each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta water
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella, divided
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided
1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Cook pasta 2 minutes less than the package directions for al dente — it will finish cooking in the oven. Drain and set aside.
Build the sauce. In a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more until fragrant. Stir in crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, broth, rosemary, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Simmer uncovered for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the beans. Stir cannellini beans into the tomato sauce. Lightly mash about 1/4 of the beans with the back of a spoon to help thicken the sauce. Simmer for 3 minutes more.
Combine. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and stir to coat evenly. Fold in half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan.
Bake. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10–15 minutes until the top is bubbly and lightly golden at the edges.
Rest and serve. Let the bake rest for 5 minutes before serving. Scatter fresh parsley over the top. Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days — reheat individual portions in the microwave for 2–3 minutes or in a 350°F oven for 15 minutes.

Nutrition (per serving)

Pasta e Fagioli al Forno — The Sunday Batch Cook That Gets You Through the Week