Pisarei and Beans is a classic dish of the Emilia country cuisine, specifically from the province of Piacenza.
I distinctly remember eating, or rather, just tasting this dish when in the summer of ’90 I was a guest at my uncle’s house who lived in Piacenza.
At the time, I was a picky girl who didn’t eat beans, who hated fish, and, in general, was not inclined to try new dishes (how time changes things!!).
However, being a guest, I forced myself to taste everything they offered, from Piacenza’s cuisine to my aunt’s Brazilian dishes, to the various cuisines offered by my aunt’s multitude of friends from all over the world.
Since then, I have neither returned to Piacenza nor eaten pisarei and beans.
However, the taste of this dish, which I did not appreciate much at the time, has returned forcefully in my thoughts, so much so that I decided to recreate it at home.
It’s a very simple dish, like all those from the country tradition, made with a few simple ingredients that, combined, deliver a delicious taste.
The basic ingredients are borlotti beans (dry or precooked), a portion of fat, which can be lard or bacon, and tomato sauce. This bean ragù is then used to season the pisarei, which are small dumplings made from a dough of water, flour, and breadcrumbs (the proportions of which vary from recipe to recipe).
There are many versions of this dish circulating on the web, and trying to reproduce the original recipe, if indeed one exists, becomes really difficult.
So, starting from the basics, I developed my own version that everyone at home really liked.
Now take a minute to read the recipe and then…Let’s Cook and Eat!!
See also
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- Half carrot
- 1 onion
- to taste celery
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste wine
- 1.75 oz sweet bacon
- 10.5 oz borlotti beans (precooked)
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 8.8 oz tomato puree
- to taste salt
- 7.05 oz breadcrumbs
- 3.5 oz all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water (warm)
- 4.25 cups vegetable broth
- to taste black pepper (optional)
Tools
- 1 Knife
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pan
- 1 Metal Scraper
- 1 Pot
- 1 Slotted Spoon
- 1 Ladle
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Kitchen Scale
- 1 Wooden Spoon
- 1 Plastic Wrap
Steps
To prepare pisarei and beans, start with the bean sauce and while it cooks, dedicate yourself to preparing the dumplings.
In a pan, sauté celery, carrot, and onion, which you have previously washed and cut into small pieces, or you can also use a frozen mixture for sautéing.
Then add the bacon cut into pieces and let it brown for a couple of minutes with the sauté before deglazing everything with wine (both red and white will do).
When the alcohol has evaporated, add the precooked borlotti beans (without their preserving water), then add the tomato paste and puree.
Stir to mix everything.
Finally, add a couple of ladles of vegetable broth, salt, and let it cook with a lid, placing the lid on a wooden spoon to not completely cover the sauce.
Check the sauce from time to time and if you notice it drying out too much, add a little more hot broth.
While the sauce cooks, start preparing the pisarei.
In a bowl, gather breadcrumbs, flour, and a pinch of salt, and mix the powders together with a fork.
Then add the hot water and start mixing in the bowl with a fork.
When the dough has gained consistency, transfer it to a pastry board and work it with your hands until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough.
Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
After the necessary resting time, with the help of a scraper, cut the dough into pieces and, with each piece, first form small logs and then small pieces the same size as the beans.
At this point, a bit like making cavatelli, use your index finger to press each piece and drag it towards you, making it roll on the pastry board. You should get a small dumpling with a hollow inside that will hold the sauce.
When the sauce is also ready, cook the pisarei in salted boiling water, and as soon as they float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and transfer them to the pan with the sauce, letting them cook for another minute so they perfectly blend with the beans.
At this point, season with pepper to taste and serve the pisarei and beans with a sprinkle of grated cheese, if desired 😉.
Follow me on:
InstagramFacebookPinterest
