Fagioli con le Cotiche

Simone Bonelli’s selected fagioli con le cotiche combines borlotti beans and pork skin in a tomato-based sauce. GialloZafferano places his Osteria Bonelli version in Roman cooking while noting other regional preparations.

Dry borlotti beans soak before draining into fresh cold water with carrot, celery and onion. They cook gently until tender but intact, with foam skimmed as needed.

Cleaned pork skin is cut into similar-sized pieces, boiled separately and drained. Chopped onion, carrot and celery soften in olive oil, with an optional piece of cured-ham skin added for flavour and then removed.

Fresh chili and selected optional crushed garlic flavour the sauce base before the boiled pork skin enters. Salt and selected white wine precede blended peeled tomatoes; the cooked beans join once the sauce is creamier.

A brief final simmer seasons the beans without breaking them apart. Extra salt can adjust the taste, and a separate drizzle of olive oil and toasted bread complete the serving.