Ribollita

Photo by Melina Hammer

Oh ribollita... how I love thee. 

The first time I ever had this amazing veggie stew was during the fall while I was nannying for an Italian family. The mom made the most incredible batch and topped it with bright green olive oil. It was pure heaven.

Ribollita in Italian means "re-boiled." This soup is traditionally made with leftover veggies! All the scraps left over at the end of the week or already cooked veggies, hence the name. It definitely tastes better with fresh but you do you ;) 

This soup is super easy and gives you LOTS of leftovers.  And trust me, you're going to want the leftovers...

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Ribollita

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Ingredients:

• 1 large yellow onion
• 4 carrots
• 3-4 celery stalks
• 10 garlic cloves
• 2 bunches Tuscan kale (if you end up with Trader Joe's bags, 2 bags works well!)
• 1 small wedge of Parmesan with rind, and extra parm to top your soup!
• 1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes (Cento is our staple at home)
• 1 14-oz. can cannellini beans¾
• ½ - 3/4 loaf crusty country bread
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• Kosher salt
• 1 Tb. crushed red pepper flakes (if you're more on the mild side, add less but we like ours with a kick)

Recipe:

1. Place a rack in middle of oven and preheat to 450°.
2. Let's chop all the things and make a soffritto (the Italian version of a mirepoix). Peel and finely chop your onion
3. Wash and peel your carrots. Chop those in half and then small 1/4 wide pieces. Add to bowl with onion
4. Chop celery into 1/2" pieces and add to bowl with carrot and onion
5. Gather your garlic and smash it with your knife to help with peeling. Peel and add to bowl.
6. Grab your kale and peel the stems out (if you miss some of the smaller bits that's fine but make sure you get the thicker stems removed). Wash and tear into 2-3" pieces. 
7. Cut rind off your wedge of parm and save for later
8. Tear your loaf of bread into chunks about 1-2" large
9. Open your can of tomatoes and dump into a strainer inside a larger bowl. With your hands, crush the tomatoes to release more juice.
10. ​In a large Dutch oven, heat 1/3 cup olive oil. Add in your soffritto and 2 tsp of salt. Cook 8-10 minutes until softened
11. Pour in the crushed tomato chunks and cook about 8 minutes until softened and kinda caramelized. 
12. Now that the strainer is free, strain and rinse your beans and add to the pot along with the parm rind, reserved tomato juice, red pepper flakes and 4 cups of water. Bring to a simmer
13. Once simmering, add in handfuls of kale and let wilt before adding more. It will fit! 
14. Add in about 1/3 of your ripped bread and stir in. Add more salt now if needed and cook for another 5 minutes
15. Remove from heat and add the rest of the bread on top and smother in olive oil
16. Carefully move the pot to the over and bake! We want the bread nice and golden, about 12 minutes but watch to make sure it's not burning
17. While it's cooking, shred the rest of you parm wedge
18. Remove the pot and dish it up! Top with another generous drizzle of olive oil, fresh pepper and fresh parm! Fresh basil helps brighten it up to if you have some. You can also toast up other slices of bread with parm on top if you want even more bready goodness ;) 

Try not to inhale it but it's hard not to. This soup is just so stinking good! Enjoy the leftovers for many days, one batch usually lasts me and my husband most of a week for lunches and dinners. Buon appetito!