It's not often that the word "drool" is used in a love song or rhymed with the phrase "pasta fazool."

Yet composer Harry Warren and lyricist Jack Brooks did just that in their iconic "That's Amore" ("a-MOR-ay," Italian for "love"). The song, popularized by crooner Dean Martin in 1953, contains the immortal line, "When the stars make you drool just like a pasta fazool, that's amore."

That's about all you need to know about the famous Italian dish "pasta e fagioli" ("fa-jee-OH-le," Italian for "beans"), which was Americanized into "pasta fazool." For those of us who grew up in Italian-American households, it is a dish that can indeed make us drool. It's Italian comfort food.

According to the "Oxford Companion to Italian Food" by Gillian Riley (Oxford University Press, 2007), pasta and beans are a combination that can be found throughout Italy. The beans include borlotti (also sold as cranberry beans or Roman beans), fava, cannellini (white kidney beans) and ceci ("CHE-chee" beans, also called chickpeas or garbanzos). In Venice, they are cooked and sieved with vegetables to make a thick broth, seasoned with garlic and herbs, and the pasta is then cooked in the puree, Riley writes. In Puglia, bitter greens are added. My mother's version, a soup from the Italian Piedmont, includes a potato with the pasta and beans.

Most of us think of "pasta fazool" as a soup, but it can also be a thick, nonsoupy side dish or entree, like the dish of maccheroni with white beans below, from the mouthwatering new cookbook "Olives & Oranges" by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox (Houghton Mifflin, 2008). The shelly beans with pasta and sage from "Local Flavors" by Deborah Madison (Broadway Books, 2002) also fits the bill, as does my mom's soup recipe.

If whole-wheat pasta is used with the beans, it can form a complete protein. For that, you must reference "The Amino Acid Song" on the "Organic Chemistry Songfest" Web site (cstl-csm.semo.edu/hathaway/chemsongs/chemsongs.htm). Sung to the tune of "Old MacDonald," it includes the line "Complementary proteins put together/all nine essential amino acids." That just about says it all.

Stop drooling.

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Main Dish

Maccheroni With White Beans, Mustard Greens And Anchovies

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 garlic cloves, gently smashed and peeled

3 anchovy fillets

2 small dried arbol chilies or one-half to 1 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes

1 pound mustard greens, trimmed, washed and coarsely chopped

1.5 cups water

Fine sea salt

1 cup cooked or canned cannellini beans (white kidney beans), rinsed

12 ounces maccheroni (macaroni, or elbow noodles) or pennette, ziti or orecchiette

Three-quarters cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Coarsely ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Heat the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large deep skillet set over medium heat until the butter is melted. Add garlic, and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add anchovies and chilies (or pepper flakes), remove pan from heat, and stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve the anchovies.

Return pan to heat, add a third of greens, the water and 1 teaspoon salt, and increase heat to high. As soon as the greens wilt and you have room in the pan, add the remaining greens, in two batches if necessary. When all greens have been added to pan and are wilted, add the beans. Cook until greens are tender and liquid has reduced by half, about 12 minutes.

While greens are cooking, cook pasta in the boiling water until al dente (cooked through, but still firm when you bite).

Drain pasta, place in a large bowl, and toss immediately with remaining tablespoon butter, greens mixture and cheese. Season generously with pepper and more salt, if desired. Serve at once.

Yields four servings.

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Comfort food

takes on taste

of Old Europe

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Marialisa

Calta

Food Columnist

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Main Dish

Shelly Beans With Pasta And Sage

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, peeled and dice

2 bay leaves, 1 parsley sprig and a few thyme sprigs, tied together

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

3 cups shelled fresh cranberry beans (about 3 pounds in their pods)

5 to 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth or water

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Three-quarter pounds shell-shaped pasta

Extra-virgin olive oil, for finishing

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a wide skillet or casserole set over medium-high heat. Add the onion, herb bundle and sage, and cook 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, beans, enough stock to cover by 2 inches, and 1 teaspoon salt. Simmer, covered, until the beans are soft, about 40 minutes. Check occasionally to make sure they are covered with liquid. Remove the herb bundle from the beans. Using a slotted spoon, transfer about half the beans to a bowl, and mash them using a potato masher or fork, or puree them in a blender. Return them to the pan, and thin with the extra stock or water. Taste again for salt, and season with pepper.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt, and cook the pasta until just tender. Drain and add to the beans. Taste for salt and pepper, and toss well. Drizzle a bit of olive oil over all, and dust with a grating of cheese.

Yields four servings.

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Main Dish

Pasta And Bean Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced

1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)

3 cups shelled cranberry beans (about 3 pounds in their pods)

1 large potato, peeled and halved

6 to 8 cups water

1 to 2 vegetable bouillon cubes, to taste

One-quater to one-third pound angel-hair pasta

Salt and pepper

Freshly chopped Italian parsley

Heat the oil in a 2.5-quart pot, and cook the onion until it begins to color, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, if using. (It gives this drab-looking soup a bit of color.) Add the beans and potato and 6 cups of the water. Cover the pot, leaving the cover ajar for steam to escape, and cook 35 to 40 minutes, until potato and beans are tender. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the potato halves to a shallow bowl, and mash them using a potato masher or fork. Return to the pot. Add more water, if desired, at least 1 bouillon cube and the pasta, and cook about 15 minutes, until the pasta is done. Add more water if you want this soupier, and another bouillon cube if you want more seasoning. Salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish with parsley if desired and serve.

Yields about six servings.