
Ribollita
Region: Italy, Tuscany
Category: Soups
Season: Any
Difficulty: Easy but takes non-working time
In Tuscany, a popular
next-day leftover is re-heated zuppa co' fagioli or bean soup, usually
made with cabbage or black kale, and covered with olive-oil-soaked toasted
bread and sliced onions. It's called la
ribollita, which means the "re-boiled." Cities from Livorno to Florence to
Siena claim the soup, but after all it was typically a soup of the countryside
rather than the city. On Fridays, in the
country, a simple bean soup is made with beans, black kale, potatoes, bread and
a prosicutto bone. It was reheated
Saturday morning for breakfast usually.
Renzo Cantagalli in his Guida ai detti toscani called the dish a
kind of pre-coffee (anticaffelatte) for those who take things to heart
very early in the morning (before their coffee). Today, ribollita is made with the
leftover bean soup that is covered with very thin slices of onion, sprinkled with bread crumbs, drizzled
with lots of olive oil, and finished in the oven until a golden au
gratin. It is served hot without
cheese. Remember that any leftover soup
can be a ribollita, but typically it is made of leftover bean and black
kale soup. Black kale, cavolo nero
in Italian, is a kind of kale popular in central Italy. It is called toscano in Tuscany. In this soup, the black kale--and it is not
actually black just very dark green--is a natural accompaniment to the
substantial texture of the potatoes and beans and the flavors of the aromatic
herbs.
[photo: Clifford A. Wright]
Yield: Makes 6 servings
Preparation Time: 4 to 5 hours in all
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for drizzling
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped
10 large fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
1 sprig rosemary
2 boiling potatoes (about 3/4 pound), peeled and cut up into pieces
3/4 pound black kale (or regular kale), washed well and sliced into crosswise strips
2 cups dried white beans
3 ripe tomatoes (about 1 pound), peeled, seeded, and finely chopped
2 1/2 quarts warm water or more as needed
1 prosciutto or ham bone
Salt to taste
For the ribollita (re-heating)
3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, crushed
Pinch dried thyme
8 slices Italian country bread, toasted
1 large onion, very thinly sliced
1. In a deep, flame-proof baking casserole, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat, then cook, stirring, the celery, onion, carrot, and basil (called the trito in Italian) until almost soft, about 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are somewhat dry, about 20 minutes. Add the thyme, rosemary sprig, and potatoes. Cook until they brown slightly, 4 to 5 minutes, then add the kale and the beans.
2. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the kale has wilted, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the water, prosciutto or ham bone, and salt, turn the heat to high and once small bubbles begin to form reduce the heat to very low or use a heat diffuser and cook until the potatoes and beans are tender, about 3 hours. Add some water if it doesn't look soupy like minestrone. Remove the prosciutto bone and cut off the meat. Return the meat to the casserole and discard the bone. Let cool in the refrigerator overnight in the casserole.
3. The next day preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and remove the casserole from the refrigerator.
4. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat with the garlic cloves and thyme, then cook until the garlic turns light golden in about 1 minute. Discard the garlic and pour half the oil over the soup. Layer eight slices of slightly crumbled Italian bread toast over the top of the soup and the onion. Pour the remaining oil over the onion and bake until golden, about 30 minutes.
Note: You can make a ribollita with any leftover Italian-style bean soup by following Step 4 above.
Posted: 03/02/2008