Pasta Fagioli — A Bowl of Beans for the Woman I’m Becoming

2018. The year everything is different. The year I stop being a waitress and start being a dental hygienist. The year Amber gets married. The year Chloe turns six and Jayden turns three. The year the Altima's dent finally becomes charming instead of embarrassing because it belongs to a woman with a degree and a paycheck and a future.

New Year's at Mama's. Black-eyed peas and cornbread again — the tradition, the superstition, the food that promises prosperity. Last year the prosperity was theoretical. This year it has a date: February 5th, the day I start at Harmony Dental in Green Hills, assuming I pass the board exam, which I took three days ago.

The board exam. December 29, 2017. Two hundred questions. Four hours. I sat in a testing center in downtown Nashville with 40 other dental hygiene graduates and I answered every question with the calm of a woman who has studied for this since the day she learned what a bicuspid was. I don't know my score yet. Results come in three to four weeks. But I know — in my hands, in my gut, in the part of me that has been building toward this moment for two years — I know I passed. I know because Mrs. Henderson said "wonderful" and Gloria cried and Dr. Whitfield said "I expected this" and 150 hours of clinical practice have given me a knowledge that lives in my body, not just my brain. I passed. I know I passed.

Tanisha took her board the same day. We walked out together and she said, "How do you feel?" and I said, "Like I just ran a marathon." She said, "How does the end of a marathon feel?" I said, "Like you can't feel your legs but you know they carried you." She laughed. We stood in the parking lot of the testing center — our last shared parking lot, our last mutual emotional-processing location — and we didn't cry. We just stood there. Two women who survived something together. Two women who are about to be something apart. The parking lot era is over. The career era begins.

Chloe's New Year's resolution: "Read a hundred books." She is five. She read twenty-eight last summer. A hundred is ambitious and beautiful and I told her yes. Jayden's resolution, if he had one: eat more orange things. He doesn't need a resolution for that. He's already committed.

I made Mama's black-eyed peas — ham hock, onion, garlic, simmered all day. Cornbread in the cast iron. Same as last year. Same as every year. The food doesn't change. The woman eating it does. Last year she was a student hoping. This year she's a graduate knowing. Next year she'll be a professional belonging. The peas taste the same. Everything else is different.

Mama’s black-eyed peas will always be my New Year’s dish, but this pasta fagioli has become my weeknight version of that same feeling — a pot of beans simmered low and slow, the kind of meal that fills your kitchen with the smell of something earned. After passing that board exam and standing in that parking lot with Tanisha, I wanted food that felt like arriving somewhere. This is that bowl.

Pasta Fagioli

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef or Italian sausage
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
• 1 can (15 ounces) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (15 ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups beef broth
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 cup ditalini pasta, uncooked
• Fresh parsley for garnish
• Grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Instructions

1. Brown the meat. Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef or sausage and cook, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon, until browned and no longer pink, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain any excess fat.
2. Cook the vegetables. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and celery to the pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Build the soup. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, kidney beans, cannellini beans, beef broth, oregano, basil, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the pasta. Stir in the ditalini pasta and cook uncovered, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.
5. Adjust and serve. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley and grated Parmesan cheese. The soup will thicken as it sits — add a splash of broth when reheating leftovers.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 320 | Protein: 22g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 36g | Fiber: 7g | Sodium: 780mg