Pasta e Fagioli

Steps

1. Put the vegetable broth on to heat in a saucepan: adding it hot saves several minutes. Cut the yellow onion, peeled carrot and celery stalk into small 1/4 inch (5 mm) dice, mince the garlic, strip the rosemary and finely chop the needles. Drain and rinse the cooked white beans, and grate the cheese.
2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the soffritto (onion, carrot, celery) with a pinch of the salt and cook for 6 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is translucent and the edges of the dice start to turn golden.
3. Add the garlic, rosemary and red pepper flakes and stir for 1 minute, until very fragrant but without letting the garlic color. Stir in the tomato paste and press it against the bottom of the pot for 1 minute: it should darken from bright red to brick red.
4. Pour in the crushed tomatoes and scrape the bottom to release the browned bits. Scoop out a third of the beans and mash them with a fork into a rough purée with a ladle of the hot broth, then add this purée to the pot along with the remaining whole beans and all the broth. Bring to a boil, about 3 minutes.
5. Add the ditalini straight to the soup and cook at a lively simmer for 9 to 10 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon and scraping the bottom: the pasta starch thickens the soup and tends to stick.
6. Taste a piece of pasta: it should be just al dente, since it keeps swelling off the heat. The soup should be thick and coating. If it's too tight, loosen it with a little hot water. Season with the rest of the salt and the pepper.
7. Turn off the heat, stir in half the grated cheese and let it rest, covered, for 2 minutes: the soup thickens a bit more and the cheese melts into the starch.
8. Ladle into warm shallow bowls, drizzle each serving with the last 1 tablespoon of raw olive oil, and scatter with the rest of the cheese and a grind of pepper.