Pasta and Bean Soup with homemade tomato paste – Vegan version

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade tomato paste ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Wash the tomatoes, remove the cores and quarter each tomato.

   KnifeCutting board
2. 2
   Put the tomatoes, the salt and half of the olive oil in a wide pot, cover and cook over medium heat about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes soften and release their liquid.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
3. 3
   Pass the tomatoes and their liquid through a food mill or sieve and return the purée to the pot: the skins and seeds stay behind.

   Food millorFine sieve
4. 4
   Cook uncovered about an hour at a lively simmer, stirring now and then, until the purée reduces by half.

   StoveWooden spoon

   💡The paste burns easily as it dries: stir and scrape the bottom and edges, and once it is thick, don't walk away.
5. 5
   Preheat the oven to 110°C (230°F).

   Oven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
6. 6
   Grease a wide baking dish with the rest of the olive oil and pour in the purée in a thin layer. Dry in the oven about 3 hours, stirring and scraping the edges every 30 minutes, until the paste is thick, sticky and brick red.

   OvenBaking sheetSilicone spatula
7. 7
   Let the paste cool.

   Jar

For the Fried onion

1. 8
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pot over medium heat.

   StoveWide, shallow pot
2. 9
   Add the onion, celery and carrot and fry 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   Stove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 10
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   Stove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.

To assemble

1. 11
   Add the tomato paste and stir for a minute, until the paste darkens slightly.
2. 12
   Add the tomatoes, rosemary sprig and bay leaves and cook 3 minutes.

   Stove
3. 13
   Add the stock and bring to a boil.

   Stove
4. 14
   Turn down the heat, partly cover and simmer 15 minutes.

   StoveLid

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
5. 15
   Mash about half of the beans with a fork: the mashed beans thicken the soup.
6. 16
   Add the beans and pasta and cook according to the cooking time on the package, minus a minute, stirring occasionally.

   Stove

   💡Hard vegetables (carrots, celery, potatoes) cook from the start; zucchini and pasta go in at the end so they don't fall apart.

   💡Small pasta keeps absorbing liquid even after cooking: if you're not serving right away, cook it separately and add it to each bowl.
7. 17
   Season with salt and black pepper, taste and adjust.
8. 18
   Remove the rosemary sprig and bay leaves.
9. 19
   Sprinkle the parsley on top and serve with the Parmesan.