ribollita is a typical poor-but-tasty vegan recipe from tuscany. the original recipe is super long, so we propose here a shorter and more flexible version.

we love it because, besides being very tasty and warm during winter time, it helps us reduce our food waste: we use stale bread in it, so save it during the months, and ask your friends and family to give you theirs if they plan on throwing away some, then surprise them with this recipe!

quantities for 4 portions

ingredients

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• carrot: 1
• celery: 1/4 of a head
• onion: 1
• boiled cannellini/white beans: 300g, or 130g raw dried
• savoy cabbage: 200g
• chards: 200g
• black cabbage: 200g
• potato: 1
• tomato purée: 350g
• stale bread: 200g
• salt and pepper
• extra-virgin olive oil
• chili pepper (optional)
• vegetable stock: 1,5 l

carrot, celery and onion, if sautéed together before adding the other ingredients, give your dish an amazing taste. but if you do not have all of them, you can use the onion only, or the onion plus one of the two.

it is sometimes hard to find black cabbage: do not worry, you can opt it out and put a bit more savoy cabbage and chards.

procedure

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1. if you are not using canned beans, start boiling them: find our suggestions for cooking pulses here. keep their cooking water and then use it as a broth for your ribollita!

2. mince the onion, the celery and the carrot and sautée in extra-virgin olive oil in a pot, together with the chili pepper.

3. cut the potato in small cubes and, when the onion is golden, add it to the pot.

4. let it cook for a few minutes, then add the tomato purée with some salt, lower the heat and cover.

5. cut the savoy cabbage in very thin slices, the chard and the black cabbage in thicker slices (2/3cm).

6. add them to the pot, let it cook at high heat for a couple of minutes.

7. then cover with vegetable stock (the cube will be just fine) or the beans’ cooking water and cover.

8. let it cook for at least 20 minutes at low-medium heat, stirring from time to time.

9. in the meantime, cut the bread in slices

10. back to your pot: you should end up with soft veggies and still some broth - if it has all evaporated, add some of it, or some water.

11. add your boiled beans and mix.

12. add the bread and mix well, turn off the heat and leave the pot covered for at least 10 minutes. the bread will absorbe the broth and will soften. with these quantities you will end up with a pretty dry “soup”, but ribollita comes in many different shapes, add more broth to make it more soupy to your taste.

13. garinish with some basil, serve and enjoy!

the name “ribollita” indicates that you should boil the soup twice: this is what is done traditionally, after having added the bread and having let it rest for some time. to make the recipe easier and faster, we decided to omit this passage, but feel free to do it if you have the time, or if you plan to eat it in the following days after having stored it in the fridge!