Il Rituale delle Virtu del Primo Maggio

• Total of 2 1/2 pounds dried legumes, which may include: fava beans, cannellini beans or smaller white navy beans, cranberry or borlotti beans, chickpeas, small brown or black lentils
• 2 tablespoons fine sea salt, plus additional for cooking legumes
• 8 ounces fat prosciutto, minced
• 4 ounces pancetta, minced
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional as needed
• 2 large yellow onions, peeled and minced
• Hearts of 2 bunches of celery, minced
• 1 head fennel, its fronds trimmed, its bulb and stalks sliced thin
• 6 small or 3 large leeks, trimmed of all but 1 inch of their green stems, split, rinsed, dried, and sliced thin
• 1 large bunch of flat parsley, its leaves minced
• 6 ounces spring peas, shelled
• 6 ounces fresh fava beans, shelled
• 12 small new red- or white-skinned potatoes, washed, unpeeled, and diced
• 12 small carrots, scraped and sliced
• 12 baby artichokes, trimmed and sliced
• 2 14-ounce cans plum tomatoes, with their juices
• 1 pound chicory, young spinach leaves, or red chard, rinsed, dried, and shredded
• Several large leaves sage, torn
• 2 branches of rosemary, the leaves minced
• 1 large bunch of fresh mint, its leaves torn
• 1 large bunch of basil, its leaves torn
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 pound dried ditalini or other small soup pasta
• Just-grated pecorino

1. Rinse, searching for stones and such, each variety of legume, then soak them in separate bowls of cold water overnight.
2. Drain the legumes and cook each variety in its own pot of simmering, sea-salted water until they are al dente.
3. As each of the legumes is cooked and drained, place them together in a large holding bowl.
4. In the houses largest soup pot (or one purloined from a restaurant just for the festival), heat the prosciutto and pancetta in 1/2 cup of the olive oil and saute the onions, celery, fennel, leeks, and parsley, sauteing the aromatics until transparent without coloring them.
5. Add the spring peas, the fresh fava beans, the potatoes, carrots, and artichokes, rolling the vegetables about in the scented fat.
6. Add the tomatoes and about 6 1/4 quarts of water to the pot with 2 tablespoons of the sea salt and bring to a simmer, cooking the vegetables gently over a medium flame for 10 to 15 minutes or until they are nearly soft.
7. Add the mixture of cooked legumes to the pot and simmer for 5 minutes before adding the shredded greens, the herbs, and the cloves.
8. Gently simmer the soup for 5 to 7 minutes more to soften the greens and the herbs.
9. Cover the pot and permit the soup to rest while you cook the pasta in abundant boiling, sea-salted water just to al dente.
10. Drain the pasta and add to the pot, stirring it in well and bringing the soup once again to a quiet simmer for several minutes.
11. Though the soup should be thick, some liquids should remain.
12. If necessary, thin the soup with a bit of stock or water.
13. Taste the soup for salt, adding a bit more if you think it necessary.
14. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls or into several tureens and serve it with threads of good, green oil and generous dustings of pecorino.

legumes, salt, pancetta, extravirgin olive oil, yellow onions, head fennel, leeks, parsley, spring peas, fava beans, potatoes, carrots, baby artichokes, tomatoes, chicory, sage, branches of rosemary, fresh mint, basil, ground cloves, pasta, pecorino

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/il-rituale-delle-virtu-del-primo-maggio-391005 (may not work)