P
Italian · Molise
Sagne e Fagioli con Pomodoro Fresco alla Molisana
One of Molise's most enduring preparations: sagne — broad, flat hand-cut pasta similar to maltagliati but cut more deliberately into irregular quadrilateral shapes — cooked together with dried borlotti beans in a fragrant tomato base. Borlotti beans soaked overnight are half-cooked in plain water, then the cooking liquid is reserved. A soffritto of onion, celery, carrot and lard is built, ripe fresh tomatoes (or passata in winter) are added and reduced to a dense sauce, then the half-cooked beans and their liquid are added. The sagne are made fresh from semolina and water, cut roughly and dropped directly into the simmering bean-tomato broth for the final 12 minutes. Finished with raw olive oil, torn basil and peperoncino.
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the beans
300 g
dried borlotti beans
soaked overnight in cold water, drained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2 litres
cold water
for the initial bean cooking; liquid reserved
Your own market
For the soffritto
1
onion
finely chopped
Your own market
2
celery stalks
finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
carrot
finely chopped
Your own market
60 g
lard
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the tomato base
400 g
For the sagne
300 g
semolina (semola di grano duro rimacinata)
Origin · ItalyBosa Foods · Vancouver →
150 ml
water
lukewarm
Your own market
To finish
4 tbsp
extra-virgin olive oil
raw, for finishing
Your own market
1 small bunch
1
dried peperoncino
crumbled, to taste
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Drain the soaked borlotti beans and cover with fresh cold water in a large pot. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, uncovered, until the beans are just half-cooked — tender at the outer edge but still firm at the centre, approximately 30–40 minutes. Reserve all the cooking liquid. The beans should offer definite resistance when pressed between two fingers.
2
In a wide, heavy-based pot, melt the lard over medium-low heat. Add the onion, celery and carrot. Cook the soffritto slowly, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are completely soft, translucent and beginning to colour at the edges — 15 to 20 minutes. The smell should be sweet and gently caramelised, with no raw onion note remaining.
3
Add the fresh tomatoes (or passata) to the soffritto. Raise the heat to medium and cook, stirring regularly, until the tomatoes have collapsed and reduced to a dense, cohesive sauce that pulls away from the sides of the pot — 15 to 20 minutes. The sauce should be deep red and hold its shape briefly when a spoon is drawn through it.
4
Add the half-cooked beans to the tomato base together with enough of the reserved bean cooking liquid to produce a thick, broth-like consistency. This step is where the dish lives or dies: the beans must be only half-done so they absorb tomato flavour during the final simmer without breaking down, and the starchy cooking liquid is the body of the finished dish — discarding it is an irreversible error. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 10 minutes. At this point, pass one-third of the beans through a mouli or mash with a fork and stir back into the pot to produce a naturally creamy body.
5
Make the sagne: combine the semolina and lukewarm water and work to a firm, smooth dough. Rest for 20 minutes under a cloth. Roll out to a thickness of 2–3 mm and cut by hand with a pastry cutter or knife into irregular quadrilateral shapes — broad and flat, with no two pieces identical. The irregular cut edges are deliberate; they catch the broth differently than a straight machine edge.
6
Drop the fresh sagne directly into the barely simmering bean-tomato broth — not into separate boiling water. Cook for 12 minutes, maintaining a gentle simmer throughout, stirring to prevent the pasta from settling. The finished dish should be thick, at pasta e fagioli consistency: a spoon drawn through the surface should leave a momentary channel before the broth closes back in.
From the canon — Pasta e fagioli — pasta and beans — is one of Italy's great peasant dishes, and in its most traditional Calabrian, Neapolitan, and Venetian forms, it is made… Pasta e Fagioli (Naturally Vegan) →
7
Remove from heat. Finish with raw extra-virgin olive oil, torn basil and crumbled peperoncino. Allow to rest for 2 minutes before serving, during which the dish will thicken further. The surface should glisten from the raw oil and the aroma of basil should be immediate and vivid.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Freshly podded borlotti beans in season, requiring no soaking; a lard rendered in-house from free-range pork fatback; San Marzano tomatoes grown to full ripeness and used the same day; semolina stone-milled from a single-variety durum wheat.
02
Estate — Dried borlotti beans from a named Italian producer, soaked overnight; good artisan lard; ripe summer plum tomatoes from a known source; semola rimacinata from a specialist mill.
03
Market — Standard dried borlotti beans from a supermarket with reliable turnover; commercial lard; vine-ripened fresh tomatoes or a quality whole-tomato passata in winter; widely available semola rimacinata.
04
House — Tinned borlotti beans (half-cooking stage abbreviated accordingly); olive oil substituted for lard; passata from a carton; semolina of unspecified grade — the dish remains coherent but loses the earthy depth of dried beans and the soffritto richness that lard provides.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Half-cooked beans are tender at the outer edge yet firm and resistant at the centre when pressed between two fingers.
◇Smell. The soffritto is ready when the raw onion note has completely disappeared and the smell is sweet and gently caramelised.
◇Sight. The tomato sauce is sufficiently reduced when it is deep red, dense and holds its shape briefly when a spoon is drawn through it.
◇Sight. The finished dish is at the correct consistency when a spoon drawn through the surface leaves a momentary channel before the broth closes back in.
◇Smell. The dish is properly finished when the raw olive oil glistens on the surface and the torn basil releases an immediate, vivid aroma on resting.
◇Where it lives or dies. The beans must enter the tomato base only half-cooked, and the reserved bean liquid must follow them in — cook the beans beyond this point or discard the liquid and the dish cannot be recovered.
Pillar V
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Sparkling wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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Sourced through Provenance