Ribollita
Tuscan bread and bean soup built to be reheated — it improves overnight.
Ribollita is the Tuscan bean and bread soup whose name means reboiled — it is made to be cooked, rested and heated again, and it does improve overnight. Stale bread goes in to thicken it, so the finished pot is closer to a spoonable stew than a soup.
Ingredients
- 400g cannellini beans
- 1 bunch cavolo nero
- 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick
- 400g tinned tomatoes
- 200g stale bread
- Olive oil, salt
Method
- 1
Soften the chopped soffritto in olive oil for 10 minutes.
- 2
Add tomatoes, beans and 1L water; simmer 30 minutes.
- 3
Stir in shredded cavolo nero and cook 15 minutes more.
- 4
Tear in the stale bread and let it collapse into the soup.
- 5
Cool, then reheat the next day and pour over olive oil.
This is a leftovers recipe by design: stale bread and end-of-week vegetables.
The same loaf, the other dish
- Panzanella — The summer version — the same bread, uncooked.
- Pasta e Ceci — Another pot built on pulses and a cheap pantry.
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