Borlotti Beans (fresh) - half kilo (or 1 1/2 cans of good quality Borlotti Beans+)
Olive Oil (extra virgin, if possible) - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1/2 cup chopped coarsely
Carrot - 1/4 cup chopped fine
Celery - 1/4 cup chopped fine
Tomato - 1 cup chopped (no skins, seeds or juice) - good canned or fresh plum tomatoes
Anchovy filets - 4 (if large acciughe sotto sale [anchovies packed in salt]) 6 to 8 if from glass jar in oil - deboned and finely-chopped (a good quality meat stock (in place of water) or 3 Tablespoons of Vietnamese Fish Sauce can be substituted for anchovies)
Parmiggiano cheese rind - small 2" square piece (optional)
White Wine - 2 cups (Falanghina, Greco di Tufo or Trebbiano d'Abruzzo*)
Water (free of chlorine and other pronounced flavors) - 2 cups (or wine or stock)
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Shell and wash a half kilo (just over 1 pound) of fagioli borlotti - borlotti beans (also known as Roman or scarlett beans)
Soak overnight in white wine from around the corner which costs about 90 cents per liter. It's OK to soak them in water but if white wine is plentiful use it - even for seemingly trivial things like this.
Saute onion, carrot and celery in olive oil until softened
Add two cups of water and two cups of wine or all four cups of wine to the pot.
Put beans into pot together with finely-chopped filets of anchovy
Bring to a boil over medium heat lowering fire to allow for gentle simmering for about 3 hours or until the beans are tender.
Do not use salt until you have tasted the soup within the last 20 minutes of cooking. The salt of the anchovies and the salt-emphasizing quality of wine may be enough - particularly if you use all wine instead of water.
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If you don't use anchovies or fish sauce in this, you should use a meat stock or cook ground meat with the chopped vegetables. The quantity of anchovies can be increased for a greater richness and depth. If you intend to serve this to the anchovy-phobic offset the increased anchovy by 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter in the last half hour of the cooking. A good quality Neapolitan salami chopped fine can be used in place of the anchovies but some stock must also be used to get the depth of flavor that anchovies provide. Using anchovies instead of any meat or meat stock makes this soup useful as a lenten dish for those abstaining from meat.
I have sometimes added a tablespoon of finely chopped oil-cured black olives to this soup when I have used part wine and part water in it.
+Borlotti beans are one of the few beans that are canned without preservatives like disodium EDTA. I have made this soup with fresh and canned beans in Napoli and the US. I like it with fresh beans but I can't always get fresh Borlotti beans so I make do since this produces a very good soup no matter which form you use.
* The Negozio dei Vini e Olii (Oil & Wine Store) just off Via Concezione di Montecalvario sold only Abruzzesi wines from the barrel for about 90 cents per litre - bring your own bottle. This wine was of a quality that you pay $5 or $6 per 750ml bottle in the US. Trebbiano and Montepulciano - drinkable and cookable. Of course, when I have it I will use Regaliali Rosso (il mio vino rosso preferito) and other wines of similar quality for cooking but at 90 cents a litre it's hard to resist. The olive oil (very nice as well) cost about $1.50 per litre.