A Tuscan evergreen: Ribollita

December has arrived! The month of Christmas celebrations, family dinners, lights and music!

This year I have the feeling that every moment of my life is muffled by the presence of this Virus. It doesn’t stop me completely from going on, but it limits every movement and it’s a challenge to find energy and positivity in the daily routine.

In these quiet days I understood that it makes no sense to fight this passiveness, but I can allow myself to embrace it, even if for a couple of months only. It’s winter time after all, time to hibernate, to rest, to collect energies and to mature.

To celebrate the beginning of my personal hibernation I chose a recipe that is all about home, quietness and consolation, a winter soup with Tuscan kale from the garden, soft cannellini beans, mouth-melting stale bread and peppery new olive oil, that give that twist to any traditional recipe: it’s the Ribollita.

The name of this recipe (Ribollita means literally boiled twice) says it all about the time necessary to be prepared, but the positive aspect is that you don’t have to stand beside the stove while your soup cooks, and can use the time to do something else (for example I’m preparing some crocheted Christmas decorations that are just perfect, between one ladelfull of stock and the other)!

Special guest for this recipe is my mamma, Lorenza, as comfort food is even more comforting if your mum prepared it!

Ribollita

Ingredients (serves 8)

Half a stale loaf of Tuscan bread
3 Large carrots
3 Medium sticks of celery
2 Red onions
5 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1kg Tuscan kale (cavolo nero)
3 Large potatoes
500g Dry “cannellini” beans
1 Tin chopped tomatoes

Soak the dry white beans in cold water overnight. Place them in a pot with cold water and boil for about one hour, every so often remove the scum which tends to form on the surface of the water.

Chop the carrots, celery and onions. Put the chopped vegetables in a large saucepan with some extra virgin olive oil, fry gently for 5 minutes. Carefully wash the kale and pull the leaves away from the stalk (only if the leaves are large and stringy), cut it into strips then add them to the chopped vegetables. Pour one cup of the bean cooking water on your vegetables and let them absorb the liquid. Boil gently for about half an hour, then add the potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes, and half the beans. Simmer for another half an hour.
Add the tin of tomatoes, the rest of the beans and adjust with salt. The soup should be quite fluid and salty, as the bread (remember that the Tuscan one is saltless) will absorb most of the liquid.

Remove from the heat, add the stale bread (it’s ideal to use big chunks with crust, rather than thin slices or soft parts only or it turns quite soggy) and let it sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Garnish the ribollita with some raw onion rings finely sliced and a little olive oil, but the good one! It makes all the difference!

If you wish to save some of the ribollita for another day, save some soup before adding the bread.

We hope these recipes with light up your mood, and will bring some memories of your stay in Tuscany to your homes!

A big hug from the hills and BUON APPETITO