This is a version of the Slovenian dish bean minestra. I used a can of white beans but you can use raw white beans.

If you have raw beans, soak them in the evening, drain them in the morning and in step 5 when you lower the cooker temperature add the beans and cook until soft for about 20 minutes. Before beans ends cooking for the length of cooking pasta continue the process below when adding pasta, tomato puree, etc..

Ingredients (for 2 people and 3 servings)

  • 400g canned white beans.
  • Heaping tablespoon of flour.
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons sweet paprika.
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste or 2 tablespoons of pureed tomatoes
  • 150g pasta of your choice.
  • 3 sausages.
  • 2 bay leaves.
  • 1 medium onion.
  • Sunflower or olive oil (as desired).
  • Heaping tablespoon of coarsely ground hot red paprika (if desired).
  • Parsley.
  • Salt.
  • Ground pepper or peppercorns.
  • 1.2l water or as needed.

Process

  1. Slice the onion into smaller pieces.
  2. Drain the beans and rinse them in a colander or some container then pour out the water.
  3. Cook the sausages, remove them once cooked and slice into round slices.
  4. Pour water into a pot, salt it and heat it untill a boil.
  5. Once boiling lower the heat to medium temperature and add the pasta, tomato paste, bay leaves, pepper and sausage slices. I also like to add coarsely ground red paprika.
  6. In a separate pan heat the oil, add the onion and stir until the onion turns glassy.
  7. Add the flour and finely grounded sweet paprika to the pan to make a roux and then remove the pan from the heat. I stirred until the flour turned brownish.
  8. Gradually add the roux to the pot while stirring continuously, cover the pot and cook until the pasta is fully cooked.
  9. Serve with parsley.

Bon appétit :).