Minestra di Lenticchie di Castelluccio con Cotenna Lucana

Ingredients

• 350 g Castelluccio IGP lentils, no soaking required
• 200 g pork rind (cotenna), blanched briefly and trimmed of excess fat
• 80 g pancetta, finely diced
• For the soffritto
• 1 white onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 30 g lard
• 1.5 litres water, unsalted until final 10 minutes
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, raw, to finish
• to taste fine sea salt, added only in the final 10 minutes
• to taste black pepper, freshly ground, to finish
• 4 thick slices rustic bread, torn, to float on top at service

Method

1. 1
   Bring a small pan of unsalted water to a full boil. Add the cotenna and blanch for 3 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water, and trim away any remaining thick fat. Cut the rind into strips roughly 1 cm wide. The rind is ready when it is clean, pliable and free of surface impurities.
2. 2
   In a heavy-based pot, melt the lard over a moderate flame. Add the pancetta and render until the fat is translucent. Add the onion, carrot and celery and soften in the rendered fat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are yielding and lightly golden — roughly 10 minutes. The soffritto is ready when the onion is fully translucent and the mixture smells sweet and savoury.
3. 3
   Add the dry, unsoaked Castelluccio lentils to the pot and stir to coat them in the soffritto. Pour in 1.5 litres of cold, unsalted water and lay the cotenna strips across the surface. Bring the liquid up to the point of a gentle simmer — small, lazy bubbles at the edge of the pot, never a rolling boil. This is where the dish lives or dies: a maintained gentle simmer over the following 35–40 minutes allows the thin skins of the Castelluccio lentils to dissolve progressively into the broth, building a thick, porridgy, coating body; a boil will produce mealy, ruptured lentils and a grey, separated liquid.
4. 4
   Continue to simmer, uncovered, for the full hour. At the 50-minute mark, season with fine sea salt. Taste after 10 further minutes: the lentils should be partially dissolved — the broth opaque and thick enough to coat a spoon — while a portion of lentils retain just enough structure to provide texture. The cotenna strips will be gelatinous and yielding to the touch.
5. 5
   Remove the pot from the heat. Ladle the minestra into deep bowls. Float torn pieces of rustic bread on the surface of each portion. Finish with a generous drizzle of raw extra-virgin olive oil and a grinding of black pepper. The olive oil must not be stirred in: it sits as a bright, grassy film over the dark broth. The dish is ready when the oil is visible as a distinct layer and its fresh olive scent rises clearly above the deep, earthy smell of the lentils.