Ribollita is one of the Tuscany’s famous dishes. It’s part of “Cucina Povera” (food of the poor). Ribollita means “re-boiled“. It comes from the vegetable soup of the previous day that being re-boiled with stale bread the day after. Ribollita is the right treat for the cold season.
The key ingredient is black Kale or Cavolo Nero. In their absence also the Curly kale is good. This is a long cooking process. The more Ribollita cooks the more delicious it becomes. So it is even better the next day 🙂
Ingredients | 5-6 servings
- 600g/21oz chopped Kale
- 700g/24oz Cooked Cannellini/Navy beans (or white beans)
- 200g/7oz Savoy Cabbage
- 1 cup Tomato passata
- 2 Onions
- 2 Carrots
- 3 Celery sticks
- 2 cloves of Garlic
- 300g/10.5oz Stale Tuscan bread (or any bread of your choice)
- Sage & Rosemary & Garlic for aromatic oil
- Extra virgin Olive Oil
- Salt and Black Pepper to taste
Preparation
– Cut the bread into small bits and put it aside.
– Prepare the Italian soffritto: sauté the chopped onion, celery & carrots.
– Add garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and stir fry for 10 minutes.
– Add the chopped cabbage and kale, stir fry for another 10 minutes.
– Pour a cup of tomato passata and mix all ingredients together.
– Pour 1.5 liters of boiling water and put the lid on. Cook for ⏳ 1.5 hour.
Meanwhile, make the aromatic oil:
– In a small pot, put the aromatic herbs of your choice, mine was: sage & rosemary, thyme and garlics.
– Pour in extra virgin olive oil (1/2 a cup).
– On very low heat simmer for 5-10 minutes. The garlic shouldn’t burn it becomes slightly brown. Put it aside. While resting the oil absorbs more aroma.
Adding the beans
– Mix 1 cup of water with half of the cooked white beans, blend to have a dense cream. Add it to the Ribollita.
(Optional) some chefs blend the whole Ribollita. Without overdoing, leaving some chunks of veggies but overall having a slightly creamy texture.
– Turn off the heat.
– Add other half of white beans and the chunks of bread. Mix all ingredients together.
– Wait so the rebollita cools down (20 minutes).
– Turn on the heat.
– If the Ribollita is too dry add 1 cup of boiling water. Simmer for ⏳ 10 minutes. (this is the last time). We are re-boiling the soup.
– Turn off the heat and pour half of the aromatic oil (save the other half for serving) and let it sit for 30 mins.
– While Ribollita is resting, it will absorb the aroma of oil and its flavors mature becoming incredibly delicious. Ribollita is served warm not hot.
Serve with toasted bread, in Tuscany they rub garlic to it, and serve with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top. ☺️
Notes
- During the long hours of cooking the kale’s flavor will prevail and creates an incredible umami in the soup
- Ribollita is more delicious the day after.
- Make sure you’ve got a big pot to have space for all ingredients, i miscalculated and had to change my pot to a bigger one while I was cooking this Ribollita 🙂 .
Buon appetito ☺️
