Ribollita

Tuscan Bean, Cavolo Nero and Bread Soup

Ribollita takes three days and almost no effort. Beans are cooked on the first. On the second they go into a pot with dark Tuscan cabbage and other vegetables, and the soup is layered with stale bread. On the third it is boiled again, which is what the name means, and by then it is thick enough to eat with a fork.

The Italian recipe read soaks 200 g of cannellini for 12 hours and simmers them for an hour to an hour and a half. The vegetables, mostly cavolo nero with a little cabbage and chard, potatoes, carrot, onion and tomato, cook in the bean broth for 45 minutes; half the beans are puréed and added with the whole ones for 30 minutes more. The soup is layered with stale bread and reheated the following day. It insists on dried beans.

Ingredients

For the beans

  • 200 g dried cannellini beans, soaked in cold water for 12 hours
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • A few sage leaves

For the soup

  • 4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to serve
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 1 carrot, peeled and diced
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 250 g cavolo nero, stalks removed, shredded
  • 50 g Savoy cabbage, shredded
  • 50 g chard, shredded
  • 2 tinned peeled plum tomatoes, crushed
  • A sprig of thyme
  • 250 g stale country bread, thinly sliced
  • Fine sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Cook the beans Drain the beans and put them in a pan with 1.5 litres of fresh water, the garlic and sage. Bring to the boil, boil hard for 10 minutes, then simmer for 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, until soft. Salt at the end. Keep the cooking liquid.
  2. Cook the vegetables In a second large pan, heat the oil and soften the onion and carrot for 8 minutes. Add the potatoes, cavolo nero, cabbage, chard, tomatoes and thyme, then all the bean liquid. Simmer for 45 minutes.
  3. Add the beans Purée half the beans in a food mill or blender and stir them into the soup with the whole beans. Simmer for 30 minutes more. Season well.
  4. Layer with bread In a deep dish or the cleaned pan, alternate layers of bread and soup, finishing with soup. Cool, cover and refrigerate overnight.
  5. Reboil The next day, bring the soup slowly back to a simmer, stirring so that the bread breaks down, and cook for 10 minutes until very thick and piping hot. Serve with plenty of olive oil and black pepper.

Food safety

Dried beans must be soaked and then boiled hard for at least 10 minutes before simmering. Cool the soup quickly before refrigerating and reheat until piping hot.

Tinned beans will not give the bean broth the recipe depends on.

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