It’s brothy beans and pasta season

A recipe formula + tomato, miso and cannellini bean pasta

Pasta shells will soak up the umami-rich miso broth.

Since reading Rachel Roddy’s exceptional book, An A to Z of Pasta, I’ve been cooking and eating a version of pasta with beans, starting as the first of the dark mornings creep in, about once a week all through winter.

The basic recipe formula is to simmer beans with veg and add pasta towards the end of the cooking time, allowing the pasta to cook in the flavourful beany broth and simultaneously to release some of its starchy water, thickening the sauce. My toddler also – miraculously – happens to love these beany brothy pasta creations, especially if the pasta shapes are alphabet or tiny stars.

Brown food = the best food. Also why are toddlers so obsessed with these alphabet pasta shapes?

Go for a classic minestrone with a slow-cooked soffritto, borlotti beans, tomatoes and small pasta shells. Cook chickpeas with roughly chopped carrots, onions and celery until tender (bonus points if you have time to cook them from dried, but if not, seek out the jarred chickpeas, which are much more tender and flavourful). Throw in broken lasagne sheets and a leftover rind of parmesan, if you have it, then serve with Calabrian chilli paste oil on top. Sauté diced peppers, onion and garlic then add a big handful of red lentils and veg stock to cover. Once the lentils are tender, throw in giant couscous or fregola and stir through a spoonful of harissa.

Something bright or crunchy on top is always a good idea. If you’re using greens, like kale and cavolo nero, you could blanch then blitz some of them with toasted walnuts, lemon juice and olive oil, for a speedy green pesto-ish drizzle to swirl through at the end. Toss cubes of crumpet in minced garlic and olive oil then bake until golden for the most addictive crumpet croutons to serve on top. Blitz soft herbs with capers, olive oil and lemon juice to add brightness just before serving.

Marmite gnocchi with chickpeas. A veg-packed beany stew with crunchy croutons. I could go on but I think you get the idea, don’t you?

One-pot brothy beans with tomato and miso

Add lots of peppery olive oil at the end for brightness.

Serves 4

• 3 banana shallots, peeled and diced

• 1 red pepper,  de-seeded and diced

• 3 carrots, finely diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tin cannellini beans

• 500g passata

• 1 tbsp miso

• 1 vegetable stock cube

• 300g small pasta (I used shells)

• A handful of cavolo nero, leaves stripped, finely chopped

• A handful of spinach, chopped

• Parmesan, to serve (optional)

1. Heat a splash of olive oil in a large casserole over a medium heat and add the shallots, pepper and carrots and a good sprinkle of salt. Cook for 7-10 minutes, until softened, then stir in the garlic and cook for another minute or two until fragrant.

2. Stir in the beans with their water along with the passata, stock and miso. Bring to a simmer then turn down and cook for 15 minutes. Stir in the pasta, adding a splash more boiling water as needed to cover. Pop a lid on and simmer until it’s al dente.

3. Stir in the cavolo nero and spinach for the last couple of minutes of cooking time. Serve with a good glug of extra virgin olive oil on top, lots of black pepper, plus parmesan, if you like.