Ribollita (traditional Tuscan soup)
This dish requires prior preparation. Best make on a weekend, and eat on a his is a multi-day preparation. Best make in the weekend and reheat and serve (ribollita = reboiled) during the week. This is one of the most satisfying “soul foods” around, and it’s super healthy, and used up stale bread. The star is a vegetable called cavalo nero, which may be hard to find in Hong Kong. Substitutes include beetroot leaves, chard, savoy cabbage, and kale. There’s an official, protected recipe. The method below works well too.
Serves 2
Time: 🕰🕰🕰
Effort: 💪💪💪
Ingredients:
200g cannellini beans
2 mugs water
1 garlic clove
1 sprig rosemary
1/2 carrot
2 stalks of celery
1/2 onion
Any dark leafy green you can find from local farmers, such as chard or beet tops
1/2 can (200g) of peeled tomatoes
Stale Italian or french bread
Olive oil, salt, pepper 1/2 carrot
1/2 stalk celery
1/4 onion
Method:
1. Soak cannellini beans overnight in 2 mugs of water
2. On the next day, drain the beans and reserve the water
3. Add olive oil into a small pot
4. Add soaked beans and a clove of garlic to the pot
5. Sautée until fragrant
6. Add the soaking water and rosemary sprig into the pot
7. Simmer on medium-low heat for around 45 minutes
8. Meanwhile, chop onion, carrots, and celery into small cubes
9. In a larger soup pot (the “main soup pot”), add olive oil and sautée the onion, carrot, celery on medium heat, until fragrant
10. If using chard, then cut the stalk into small chunks and add this to the pan first
11. Hand-tear your selection of leafy greens and add this to the pot
12. Add the canned tomatoes
13. Cover main soup pot with a lid, and start simmering on low heat
14. Adjust the seasoning as needed
15. By this time, the beans in the smaller soup pot should have fully cooked. Remove half the beans and add this to the main soup pot
16. Remove rosemary spring
17. Blitz the rest of the beans with together with its water using a handheld blender, until a thick soup is formed
18. Add this thick bean soup into the main soup pot, which already contains the rest of the ingredients
19. Mix well and simmer on low heat for 2-3 hours to form the ‘zuppa’
20. Adjust seasoning as needed
21. Assemble the dish in the following order: stale bread -> olive oil -> half the zuppa, then repeat one more time
22. Cover and let cool in room temperature
23. Aftee cooled down, put in fridge, well covered, until the day of serving
24. On the day of serving, the bread should have amalgamated with the zuppa
25. Reheat on stove top until warmed through
26. Divide into bowls and drizzle with olive oil to serve
Nat & E Homecooking 