Happy pasta-and-bean season—that cold-weather gravitational pull toward belly-warming, low-fuss meals that can be mostly thrown together from pantry staples such as dried pasta and canned beans. In my kitchen, a lot of that cooking leans Northern Italian, because classics such as pasta e fagioli and pasta e ceci check all the boxes: They’re economical (both icons of cucina povera), nutritious, quick to prepare, and brimming with savoriness. Plus, when I’m full up on holiday meal prep and eating, it’s just the kind of cozy food I want to unwind with.
Lately I’ve been thinking of this pair less in terms of canonical dishes and more as a riffable formula, since neutral pasta and beans can be pulled in countless directions. Think: bacon, brussels sprouts, and mustardy bread crumbs; salmon, snow peas,
