Ribollita (Tuscan vegetable and bread soup)
The Finale of our Italian food symphony: La Ribollita. A typical soup from Tuscany in Italy, made with a mix of root and leafy vegetables and bread from the day before. The name indicates perfectly the specialty of this Tuscan soup. “ribollire” means recook or reboil. That means, traditionally you leave the prepared soup untouched until the next meal or best the next day and then reboil it before serving. This way, the added slices of (old) bread absorb the flavors and break into soft pieces.
The ingredients
Typically, this soup is made with a fine selection of vegetables from a Tuscan home garden. This often includes different types of cabbage, carrots, celery, greens such as chard, courgette, onions, garlic and beans. Our intestines are not very much appreciative of cabbage, onions, garlic and legumes. This is why in this recipe I used what we both digest best and love most. With one exception: the beans 🙂 Because my caring sister just sent us a packet full with beautiful food, including her very own garden-grown beans. So it was too obvious to use them for this recipe! You can order a beans growing starter set and much more on her website pressmayr.at!
So, let’s get started…
Ribollita (Tuscan vegetables and bread soup)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dry beans or 1,5 cups cooked beans
- 1 big ripe tomato
- 1 small courgette
- 2 handfuls chard, wild spinach or baby spinach
- 1 glove garlic optional
- 2 small carrots
- 3 tbsp olive oil good quality
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 3-4 tbsp dried herbs like thyme, herbes de Provence, oregano
- salt and pepper
- 4 slices white bread here you can use an old one
Instructions
Beans
- Soak the beans in double water at least for 12 hours, or overnight. If you use cooked beans, skip this step.
- Drain the beans, add double of water and cook until nicely soft (approximately 1 hour). Drain and set aside.
Veggies
- Fill a pot half with water, bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat. Place the tomato in the water and let boil for 30 seconds to 1 minute. The peel should break open. Don’t boil longer than that. Take the tomato out of the water, let cool down a little and peel, using a fork and sharp knife. Cut the tomato flesh in pieces.
- Cut the courgette and chard/spinach in pieces.
Soffritto
- Peel and grate the carrots. Chop the garlic (if you prefer to use one). Fry both in the oil for approximately 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste. Fry for another 3 minutes.
Boil the soup
- Add all the herbs, keep cooking for a minute.
- Add the courgette and chard/spinach. Fry for another minute or two, stirring from time to time.
- Add water to the pot, until all the ingredients are well covered. Add some salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil and cook until the vegetables are soft (approximately 15 minutes).
- Take the soup off the heat. In another pot, place half of the bread slices on the bottom. Pour half of the soup on them. Place the rest of the bread into the pot, cover with the rest of the soup. Refrigerate the soup for 8 hours or until the next day.
Next day
- Bring the soup to boil and reboil/recook it for 5-10 minutes. Serve with some fresh herbs on top.