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Ribollita

17/11/2023

Ribollita is a traditional Tuscan dish, particularly linked to the city of Florence. It is a thick soup made with vegetables and stale bread that owes its name to the method of cooking, which involves a “reboiling” of the minestrone on the day after its preparation, to enrich its flavor. Here’s how you can prepare it:

Ingredients

  • 300 g of black cabbage
  • 300 g of chard
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 onion
  • 1 stick of celery
  • 400 g of cannellini beans (half boiled and half mashed)
  • 400 g of peeled tomatoes
  • 1 potato
  • 1 zucchini
  • Tuscan stale bread
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • Rosemary and sage to taste

Preparation

  1. Start with the cannellini beans by boiling half and mashing the other half to make a cream.
  2. Prepare a sauté with onion, carrots, and celery in extra virgin olive oil. Add the diced potato and zucchini, and the peeled tomatoes.
  3. Add the black cabbage and the previously washed and sliced chard to the soup.
  4. Pour the whole beans and the bean cream into the mixture, add water and cook for about 1 and a half hours.
  5. Season with salt, pepper, and add chopped rosemary and sage.
  6. Once the vegetables are cooked, remove the ribollita from the heat and let it rest. The next day, reheat it and “reboil” it.
  7. In the meantime, lightly toast some slices of stale bread, rub them with a clove of garlic, and place them at the bottom of each plate.
  8. Pour the hot ribollita over the bread and finish with a raw drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Curiosity

It is said that the origins of ribollita go back to the Middle Ages, when servants gathered the leftovers from the nobles’ banquet, mainly consisting of bread and vegetables, to cook them together, obtaining a substantial and nutritious soup. Over time, this “soup of the poor” has become a symbol of Tuscan cuisine and is appreciated for its rich flavor and its connection with traditional and recovery cooking.

Of course, since it is a traditional recipe, there are numerous family and regional variations, so feel free to make changes based on your tastes and the ingredients you have available.