Ribollita Tuscan Bean Soup
From pollymotzko 16 years ago
- 120 minutes to make
- Serves 6
This sumptuous book is such a celebration of Italian baking at its best. It is not filled with pictures from cover to cover (as I’d love a book to be) but the cover shot alone shows a sampling of what is within the pages. Read more A wonderful book that takes you all around the Italian home bakery. Aside from great breads of all types, biscotti, tarts, there is also techniques for working with yeast, hand-drawings that show the shaping of the breads and more. There are 5 soups in the 1985 edition that I have and the Ribollita (Tuscan Bean Soup) is worth getting the book! There are so many unique breads in here that capture the true, great art of baking and so much more! This is in the words of Carol Fields herself: “These days, simple is sophisticated and rustic is chic. All over Tuscany, trattorie are full of the most delicious peasant soups, which were initially created from simple necessity. Some say that ribolleta was made from the bread that was used as a trencher for roasts in hungry servants, who put it in a big pot of water with vegetables and prepared in the country on a Friday; therefore it is meatless and doesn’t even have the hint of a prosciutto bone or a bit of pancetta. It is made of the most basic ingredients-bread, potatoes, kale, a few handfuls of cabbage. When it was ribollita, or reboiled, it turned up again at lunch on Saturday as a wonderful leftover that has now become a staple soup of the region. Nowadays most ribollite in Tuscany are tasty vegetable soups made with Tuscan beans, a civilized bit of cuisine created from rougher beginnings.” See less
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (225 grams) dried white cannellini beans or 1-½ cups canned cannelloni shopping list
- ¾ cup olive oil shopping list
- 2 medium-size yellow onions, finely chopped shopping list
- 3 ribs celery, diced shopping list
- 4 carrots, peeled and chopped shopping list
- 1 teaspoon tomato paste shopping list
- 2 teaspoons warm water shopping list
- 3 ripe medium-sized tomatoes, chopped shopping list
- 3 bunches swiss chard (about 3 pounds or 1-½ kilograms), stems trimmed, leaved chopped shopping list
- 1 bunch kale, stems trimmed, leaves removed shopping list
- ½ savoy cabbage, finely shredded shopping list
- 4 medium-size potatoes, peeled and chopped shopping list
- 1 fresh small chile, seeded and chopped shopping list
- 2 cloves garlic, minced shopping list
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried shopping list
- salt shopping list
- Freshly ground pepper shopping list
- 5 to 6 cups cold water shopping list
- 12 to 16 slices stale Pane Toscano Scuro (Dark Tuscan bread shopping list
- or Pane Toscano shopping list
- Best-quality Tuscan olive oil for garnish shopping list
How to make it
- Makes 6 servings.
- If you are using dried beans, soak the beans overnight in water to cover, then drain. Heat the beans and fresh water to cover over high heat to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered until tender, about 1-½ hours. Drain the beans but reserve the cooking liquid. Puree three quarters of the cooked beans with a little bit of the cooking liquid or three quarters of the canned beans in a little of their liquid in a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in a blender. Reserve the remaining whole beans.
- Heat ½ cup oil in a heavy large pan or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the onions, celery, and carrots and saute until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Thin the tomato paste with the 2 teaspoons water and add the thinned paste and the fresh tomatoes to the vegetables. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the chard, kale, cabbage, potatoes, pureed and whole beans, the chile, garlic, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the remaining bean cooking or canned liquid and enough of the cold water to cover the vegetables. Heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer covered about 2 hours.
- Just before serving, grill or toast 2 slices of bread for every serving. You can saute the bread in the remaining ¼ cup oil, or brush one side of each slice with the oil and bake on a baking sheet at 400 degrees F. until golden, or brush the bread with oil and grill under a broiler or over an open fire. Place the bread in the bottom of wide soup bowls and ladle the soup over the bread. Drizzle a fine thread or two of good Tuscan olive oil over each serving. Most Tuscans so not serve Parmesan cheese with this bean soup.
The Rating
Reviewed by 10 people-
I agree, this sounds amazing and very comforting. You have my 5.
chefmeow
in Garland loved it
-
what a great comfort food for a cold day...^5
peetabear
in mid-hudson valley loved it
-
I love greens paired up with cannellini here! Very, very nice! Will definitely try this!
juels
in Clayton loved it
Reviews & Comments 11
-
All Comments
-
Your Comments
" It was excellent "
" It was excellent "
" It was excellent "
" It was excellent "
" It was excellent "
" It was excellent "