We've been enjoying Noah Galuten's The Don’t Panic Pantry Cookbook: Mostly Vegetarian Comfort Food That Happens to Be Pretty Good for You, his very entertaining Substack account. A recent post titled "Fiber Dad Top 5 Bean Rankings" caught our attention. 

He shared one of his favorite family-friendly bean soups with us.

DAD HACK from Noah: "When you cook pasta directly into the soup, it is absolutely delicious. But if you aren’t going to finish it all, that pasta is going to absorb extra liquid overnight and make it much more of a stew than a soup the next day. So if you want to make this soup a little more leftover-friendly, just cook the pasta separately in a pot of water. Then serve the soup and pasta together in a bowl, and top with the pistou — and store leftover pasta and soup separately in the fridge."

This recipe calls for vegetables to be diced — but think of it this way: cut things so that they will be similarly sized and pleasant to eat alongside the beans and pasta. It’s why my favorite pasta shape for this is ditalini, which is basically the size of a cooked bean.
Also of note: I highly recommend soaking the beans for this recipe. I’m not a “you have to soak your beans guy,” but in the case of this dish, it makes it a little easier and less time-consuming if you remember to soak your beans the day before.

Serves 4-6

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1 large leek (white and light green parts only), or 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced or finely chopped
  
• Salt
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
  
• 8 ounces dried beans, such as Rancho Gordo Cranberry beans, soaked overnight in 10 cups of water (you can skip this soaking step, but it will take a lot longer to cook the beans)
  
• 2 small or 1 medium red or Yukon gold potato, diced
  
• 2 medium carrots, diced
  
• 2 stalks celery, diced
  
• 1 large or 2 medium/small zucchini, diced (a handful of diced green beans is a great option as well)
  
• 8 ounces dried small pasta, such as ditalini or tubetti
• Basil Pistou (recipe below)

1. Place a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed soup pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil, and once it is shimmering, add the leeks, a pinch of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. Allow them to sauté until just softened — about 2 minutes — stirring occasionally. Add the beans and their soaking liquid (some recipes will tell you to discard this water, but you should not: this will make for more delicious bean broth). Raise the heat to high, then once boiling, reduce to a gentle simmer and cook, covered, until the beans are almost completely tender but still have a little bite — about 45 to 75 minutes, depending on the age of your beans.
2. Add the potatoes, celery, carrots, and zucchini, and then season the broth with salt and more black pepper. Give it a stir and taste the broth — it should taste like a barely-underseasoned-soup.
3. Now is the time start checking your water level. It should be quite soupy — you are still going to need to cook your pasta in this soup (unless you’re cooking the pasta separately: see Dad Hack). If you add more water, you can add a little more salt as well.
4. Return the pot to a simmer and then cover and cook at a gentle simmer until the vegetables are tender — about 15 minutes. Check the water level again—you’ll want to make sure there is room to cook the pasta. Add more water as necessary to have a loose, soupy consistency — but don’t worry too much about it: this will be delicious whether it comes out thin or thick. (And you can always cook it down to reduce longer at the end, or add water to loosen it up.)
5. Taste it again for salt. You will want it to taste slightly under-salted, since the pistou will be adding lots of flavor at the end too.
6. Add the pasta and raise the heat to high. Once it is at a strong simmer, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, covered and stirring occasionally, until the pasta is just al dente.
7. Turn off the heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls, then spoon a big dollop of pistou right over the top and enjoy.

Basil Pistou
makes about 1 cup

Yes, it is traditional to make this in a mortar and pestle…but I’m a work-from-home dad and will pretty much always use this blender method instead. The ice cube is a great trick I learned from the great Sarah Minnick, which keeps the color nice and green and prevents overheating from the blender.
Note: Leftover pistou can be frozen in ice cube trays, and then used in any number of ways, including atop some toast, stirred into a can of beans, or just tossed with some pasta for an easy meal.

Ingredients
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves (or two of those small 3/4 ounce packages)
1 cup (about 30 grams or 1 ounce) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed with the side of a knife and roughly chopped
a pinch of salt
a few twists of freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Place the ingredients in a blender (or a straight-sided container if you are using an immersion blender). Then blend until mostly smooth, just making sure to blend it as little as possible, otherwise it could turn overly bitter. Taste for seasoning and adjust salt to taste. Store, covered in the refrigerator, for up to a week.