Ribollita
Tuscan Bread and Kale Soup- Yield
- Serves 4 to 6
- Active
- 45 minutes
- Total
- About 4 hours, plus overnight soaking and resting
- Difficulty
- Easy
The story
Ribollita means “reboiled,” and the name describes a method more than a fixed recipe. Tuscan farm families cooked a big pot of beans, vegetables and stale bread, then heated it again on the following days, and each reheating made it thicker. The soup grew out of the zuppa di magro, the meatless soup of Fridays, when households cooked large batches and lived on the leftovers. Pellegrino Artusi recorded it in his cookbook as a lean peasant soup, and a soup of bread and black cabbage served over sliced bread is already documented in the 16th century. The name ribollita is younger: it appears in the Touring Club Italiano’s gastronomic guide of 1931, and in 2001 the Accademia Italiana della Cucina deposited a reference recipe with a notary. It is a soup of the cold season. Tuscan cooks wait until the cavolo nero has been through a frost or two, which softens the leaves, and they use the region’s unsalted, wood-fired bread once it has gone stale. Cannellini beans, half of them puréed, give body, and wild thyme and a thread of olive oil go on at the end. Cook it a day before you plan to serve it, reheat it slowly, and put good olive oil and black pepper on the table.
Ingredients
- For the beans:
- 1 1/2 cups dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight in cold water
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- 1 celery stalk, halved
- 10 cups water, plus more as needed
- For the soup:
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1 medium russet potato, peeled and diced
- 8 oz cavolo nero (lacinato kale), center ribs removed, leaves cut into strips
- 8 oz savoy cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
- 2 canned whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for serving
- 8 oz stale crusty country bread, thinly sliced
- Leaves from 2 thyme sprigs
Sold as lacinato, Tuscan or dinosaur kale in most supermarkets; curly kale works but is chewier.
Tuscan bread is unsalted; use any dense, crusty country loaf that is 2 to 3 days old, not soft sandwich bread.
Method
- Drain and rinse the soaked beans. Put them in a large pot with the whole garlic clove, the halved celery stalk and the 10 cups water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, partly covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the beans are completely tender; add hot water if the beans become exposed.
- Discard the garlic and celery. Drain the beans over a bowl and measure the cooking liquid, adding water if needed to make 7 cups. Purée half the beans with 1 cup of the liquid in a blender or food mill; keep the rest whole.
- Heat the 1/4 cup olive oil in a heavy 6-quart pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion, chopped garlic, carrots, diced celery and potato with a little of the salt, and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes, until the onion is soft but not browned.
- Stir in the cavolo nero and savoy cabbage and cook for 5 minutes, until wilted. Add the tomatoes.
- Pour in the remaining 6 cups bean liquid, add the rest of the salt and the pepper, and bring to a simmer. Cook, partly covered, for about 40 minutes, until the vegetables are very tender.
- Stir in the bean purée and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often so the soup does not catch on the bottom. Add the whole beans and simmer for 10 minutes more. Taste for salt.
- In a 5-quart heatproof dish or tureen, make alternating layers of bread slices and soup, ending with soup. Let stand for at least 30 minutes, or cool, cover and refrigerate overnight.
- To serve, return the soup to the pot with 1/2 cup water and reheat over medium-low heat, stirring and breaking up the bread, for about 15 minutes, until bubbling and very thick. Ladle into warm bowls and finish with olive oil, black pepper and the thyme leaves.
Note: Ribollita is meant to be made a day ahead and reheated; it keeps 3 days in the refrigerator. For a shortcut, use three 15-oz cans cannellini beans (rinsed) and 7 cups water or vegetable broth, and skip step 1.