Pasta Candles with Long Green Beans and Tomatoes
In Tuscany long, skinny green beans, the kind called yard-long or asparagus beans in North America, are called fagiolini di Sant’Anna because they come into season around the Feast of Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin, on July 26. Although you may use any fresh green beans for the dish—even the flat beans called romano, or the very slender ones that gardening catalogs call French filet beans—we love mixing the long Sant’Anna beans with equally long tubes of candele pasta so the pasta and the beans sort of intertwine with each other. Both Rustichella d’Abruzzo and Pastificio Faella have candele, as does De Cecco. They really do look like long, slender candles. Bucatini are a fine substitute.
SERVES 6
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
¾ pound very ripe fresh tomatoes, preferably plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped (or use one 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, preferably San Marzano, with their juice)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound long green beans (asparagus beans)
1 pound (500 grams) candele or similar long pasta
Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano or pecorino toscano cheese
Combine the oil with the garlic and onion in a skillet and set over low heat. Cook, stirring, just until the vegetables start to soften, but do not let them get brown. Add the tomatoes with salt and pepper to taste and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the tomatoes have dissolved into a sauce, 15 to 20 minutes. If you wish, puree the sauce with an immersion blender to make it smoother, but it should be quite textured. (This may be done ahead of time, if you wish.)
While the sauce is cooking, bring a good 6 quarts of water to a rolling boil in a large pot. When the water boils, add a big spoonful of salt and the green beans and cook until done, 10 to 15 minutes. The beans should not be fully cooked as they will continue to cook in the sauce. Use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water and transfer directly to the sauce. Stir into the sauce, which should be just simmering over low heat.
Bring the bean water back to a vigorous boil and add the pasta, stirring well to immerse it. Cook, following the directions here, checking the package recommendations for time. Candele should take about 9 minutes, but start testing after 6 or 7 minutes.
Have ready a warm serving bowl. When the pasta is al dente, drain and turn it into the bowl. Top with the green bean sauce and toss to combine before serving, passing grated cheese at the table.