Ribollita a tasty ancient recipe
The word ribollita in Italian means reboiled, the ribollita is an ancient Tuscan recipe where any leftover from the cabbage and beans soup is reboiled along with stale bread.
The ribollita is a typical example of the “simple cooking” tradition. For best results using a pretty decent casserole in cast iron or a clay pot is vital.
The black cabbage is a vegetable very common in Tuscany with a special strong taste. If you can’t find it, a possible replacement may be the Kale.
It’s a good idea to let the soup rest overnight before the second boil with the bread.
It’s possible to keep the ribollita in the fridge for a 2/3 days or in the freezer for few weeks.
Ingredients for 6 people
- 1 black cabbage ~ 400 gr
- ½ savoy cabbage ~ 400 gr
- 400 gr dried cannellini beans
- 3 bunches of chard
- 2 potatoes
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery sticks
- 1 onion
- 250 gr mashed tomatoes
- 8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and ground pepper
- 300gr stale bread
Procedure
Reidratate the cannellini beans in water for 7/8 hours.
Put the beans in a casserole with 2 litres of water and bring to boil until cooked. Take out ¾ of the beans and mash them into a puree.
Dilute the puree with the water used to cook the beans.
Slice the carrots and celery in pieces around 1.5 cm.
Cut the potatoes in wedges.
Chop the cabbages and chard in stripes.
In a large casserole put the oil and the chopped onion. Turn on medium heat and wait until the onion becomes translucent.
Dilute the mashed tomatoes with about 375 ml warm water and add the liquid to the onions.
Add sliced vegetables to the onions and tomatoes, add salt and pepper as you like, then cover with the top lid and raise the heat to high. Let it cook for about 15 minutes.
Add the puree made from the beans, then let it cook for about 1 hour stirring from time to time and checking if more salt is needed.
Add the beans and turn the heat to low. Leaving the soup slightly boil for about 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat then put the casserole cover on and let the soup cool down for a few hours.
Bring the soup to the boil adding the sliced stale bread and some water to let the bread soften.
Cook the ribollita for about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time in order to mash the bread. Add extra water if needed, then turn off the heat and you are done.
When serving, you can top up the ribollita with extra virgin olive if you like.