Authentic ribollita soup
A vegan, with peasant origins, soup typical of Florence, Tuscany. Cannellini beans, kale and cabbage will warm your stomach, and your heart!
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 350kcal
Cost: $2
Equipment
- a large pot (I chose my dutch oven)
- a strainer
- an immersion blender
- a chopping board
- a knife
- a wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 400 gr dried cannellini bean
- 350 gr stale Tuscan bread
- 1 bouquet kale cavolo nero in Italian
- 0.5 savoy verza
- 1 bouquet chard
- 2 small potatoes or a large one
- 3 peeled tomatoes
- 1 red onion
- 2 carrots
- 1 celery stick
- q.s. fresh rosemary
- q.s. fresh thyme
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt (optional, according to taste)
- pepper (optional, according to taste)
Instructions
- The day before, start preparing the cannellini beans. Cover the beans with tap water and let them rest for at least 6 hours. Then make them cook in water, with salt and some rosemary. When they are almost ready, drain them from water, but don't waste the water itself, you will use it to cook the vegetables. Use half of them to make a cream with the immersion blender.
- Cut the onion, the celery stick and the carrots in fine pieces.
- Add in a large pot (or a dutch oven) some extra virgin olive oil and gently cook the onion, celery and carrots for about 5 minutes.
- Peel and chop two small potatoes. Make a small bouquet out of the rosemary and the thyme. Add both, and three peeled tomatoes, to the cooking vegetables.
- Wash in tap water the kale, the chard and the savoy. My suggestion, since the parts closer to the roots are thicker and require more time to be fully cooked, is to chop them and start adding the pieces from the root to the top. If it gets dry, pour some beans cooking water.
- I suggest to cook the hardest parts (picture, top) at least 30-45 minutes longer than the softer leaves (picture, bottom). Most savoy leaves should be considered among the hardest parts.
- Add some beans cooking water and cover the pot and let it gently boil, at low heat, for 2.5 - 3 hours. Add some beans cooking water if needed. The result should be like in the picture.
- Add the cannellini beans cream, gently mix, cover the pot and keep on cooking for another 30 minutes.
- It's almost done.. Add the cannellini beans, mix, cover the pot and keep on cooking for another 15 minutes.
- The result after 3 hours of cooking should be like in the picture.
- Now, cut some slices from the stale bread and alternate one layer of bread with one layer of ribollita. Quantities shoudl allow for two layers of bread.
- Now your first ribollita soup is ready. But... it needs to be "ribollita", so boiled twice! So, let it rest for at least 4 hours, then boil it again with some beans cooking water (or vegetable broth), and serve with some fresh extra virgin oilve oil on top. Enjoy!
Notes
- ribollita takes time. My suggestion, to have it for dinner, is to cook the beans the evening before and start the following steps in the first part of the morning
- it's important that you use a pot that can distribute heat evenly. Traditionally, farmers used a clay pot. My choice goes, and I am really satisfied with it, a dutch oven (the same one I use also to cook risotto or to bake my bread)