It’s still soup season, and it’s always bread season (IMO) so let’s bring them both together today with this Tuscan Ribollita.
Controversial statement: In the handful of times I have been to Italy, it wasn’t my favorite. Also, Italian food isn’t my favorite…
You’re still reading? Thanks for giving me a chance to explain. While I’ve been to all the main touristy haunts, I haven’t been to Amalfi, or Tuscany for that matter and apparently those places are the bees knees. And often times the heaviness of Italian food turns me off, but I also know that there is more to Italian food than pasta and red sauce.
I realized when I started digging into my travel history that it’s actually been 16 years since I’ve been to Italy! That means that I was young and poor, and travel very differently than I do these day (well, in normal these days). On one of my summer trips I got horrendous sun poisoning, which, as someone that hates hot weather, means that I was miserable upon miserable. So…admittedly many reasons why I should give it another chance. Don’t worry, it’s on my list.
What was also on another kind of list, my “to-make” recipe list, is this Tuscan ribollita. I’ve been lucky enough to always work with people who love food as much as I do, and four years ago my old coworker Peaches came in proclaiming the virtues of this soup. He had merged a few together to make his own version, emailed it to me, and I tucked it away for a snowy day. That turned out to be last week, and in making this I stayed about 90% true to his version.
The resultant soup was so delicious I remade it again right away to eat again this week. It’s the kind of soup that really sticks to your ribs on these cold winter days, and since it gives me an excuse to buy one of those perfectly baked Italian loaves from the bakery, an indulgence to be sure, I was more than happy to give it a two-week-in-a-row run.
Even though I chopped his recipe, it still makes a huge pot, enough to get me through a full week of eating big bowlfuls daily, and still left me savoring every spoonful.
A few notes:
The recipes I looked up actually had this as being a vegetarian dish. Peaches added pancetta and since I oddly couldn’t find any, I used bacon. Feel free to omit both.
Peaches’ original recipe used herbs de provence, but since I didn’t have it, I used my own collection of herbs. If you do have herbs de provence, go ahead and add two tablespoons of that instead of the herbs listed here.
Tuscan ribollita
Tuscan ribollita is a delicious and hearty bean soup filled with tons of veggies and topped with toasted bread and shredded cheese.
Ingredients
- 4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 2 large carrots, diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 yukon gold potatoes, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 TB crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp dried fennel, ground
- 1/2 tsp dried lavender
- 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
- 2 14-oz cans cannellini beans, drained
- 1 28-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 large head kale, spines removed, chopped
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken stock (or homemade)
- 2 cups water
- To serve:
- Parmesan cheese
- Thick cut Italian bread
- Parsley
Directions
- Step 1 In a large stock pot, add the bacon and cook until the fat has rendered. Drain the grease, reserving about 1 TB in the pot. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, potatoes, herbs, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper and bay leaves. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the veggies are soft, about 7 minutes. Add the beans, tomato, water, stock and kale. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Step 2 Reduce the heat and simmer about 45 minutes.
- Step 3 To serve, butter and toast once slice for each bowl. Cut into croutons and top each bowl of soup. Garnish with parmesan cheese and parsley as desired.
