Ribollita Soup: Tuscan Farm in a Bowl

I first ate ribollita soup in a small, dingy restaurant in a corner of Florence. Here was a place where you sat, you were served on teeny tables shared with strangers, and you drank your wine from tiny plain glass cups. No pretension. Insanely brilliant food. At the time, my husband and I were visiting his extended Italian relatives. A few days after that awesome restaurant meal, we were treated to a large family reunion on the family farm. Every table top was covered with homemade food, and one of the foods served was this soup.

It is awesome.

It is full of vegetables. All types of vegetables. Including leafy greens. And yet the husband eats it. That is a little miracle.

Ribollita Soup (Vegetable & Bread Soup)
This is one of my all-time favorite soups. And in addition to being tasty, it's healthy. I mean really healthy. Do I sound astonished? Yes, I do. It's just this soup is so tasty and so healthy ... It's like a scientific breakthrough or something. Just try it, and you too will be agog, happy, and pleasantly full.


2 organic onions, finely chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4-6 stalks organic celery, finely chopped
4-5 organic carrots, finely chopped
2 organic beef tomatoes, rough chopped
28 oz. organic crushed tomatoes (with basil, ideally)
4 cups of organic vegetable broth (or 4 cups of water and low-sodium vegetable bouillon cubes)
2+ cups of water, as needed
4 cups of cooked organic white beans (cannellini, ideally from dried beans)
about a thumb-length piece of dried kombu
a head of a chopped dark leafy greens (bok choy, kale, spinach, savoy cabbage, your choice)
1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
2 stale rolls (kaiser, ciabatta, or equivalent crusty bread), ripped into tiny pieces
1 T. dried basil
1 T. dried parsley
1 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
3 T. organic, cold-pressed olive oil

1) Use a big pot. A large kettle. A witch's caldron, if you have it!
2) Heat up the olive oil in the pot over a medium flame, then add the onions. Once they are slightly translucent, add the garlic. Be sure to stir so that the garlic doesn't burn until the onions and garlic and slightly brown.
3) Add the carrots and celery. Continue to cook on medium heat until browned and slightly cooked, stirring as needed.
4) Add the dried basil, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Turn off the heat and stir. Allow the dried herbs to absorb any remaining oil or moisture. If there is no moisture left, add a spoonful of water so that the dry herbs can rehydrate.
5) Turn the heat back on. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, vegetable broth, white beans, and kombu. I like to let the soup cook in a slow boil for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. By doing so, the fresh tomatoes have a chance to break down, the broth and dried seasonings develop and meld, and the carrots and beans to fully cook. During this time, I add extra water as needed, as the broth boils down.
6) Taste the soup. Add black pepper if you want more spice.
7) Remove the kombu. Add the chopped greens, pieces of bread, and grated cheese. Cook about another 10 minutes, until the greens are completely cooked and the bread has pretty much dissolved to thicken the soup. Again, as the soup boils, it will evaporate, and so add extra water as needed.
8) Serve!

Meaner, Greener, Leaner!
* Dried beans! Using dried beans beans means:
--we use less plastic, metal, and energy from tin cans, packaging, and shipping.
--soaking and cooking the dried beans diminishes the bean's phytic acid.
--we take in less BPAs and expose the environment to fewer BPAs (BPAs can be found in the lining of tin cans).
--cooking the beans yourself means you can cook them with some dried rosemary or thyme, thereby developing the flavor of the beans, the soup, and anything you use the beans in.
--you take in fewer preservatives and salts (as used in your standard canned cooked beans).
* If you do need to use canned beans, please check the label for BPA-free cans. (Eden Foods, on their website, says that they use BPA-free cans.)
* I just started trying to use kombu, after reading about it in Terry Walter's wonderful book, Clean Food. Kombu is a type of kelp, known for its "umami" (ooh la la). It is can be used to develop flavorful broths, grains, and legumes. It is also known for its ability to break down acids in foods, thereby improving the digestibility of those foods.
* This soup is a low-fat, low-cholesterol highly flavorful and nutritious meal, full of a variety of vegetables and vitamins; and the beans are a great source of vegetable-based protein.

How to Cook Dried Beans
1) Place the beans in a pot and cover with water.
2) Soak overnight. (This should help diminish any aftereffects, like gas.)
3) Drain the water. Rinse the beans. Then add fresh water (1 c. of dried beans to 3 c. of water).
4) Add about an inch-long piece of kombu and any dried herbs you like.
5) Boil for about 45-60 minutes, or until the beans are tender. B sure to skim off any foam. (Another thing to help diminish beany aftereffects.)
6) Use what you need, and store the extra (when cooled) in the freezer for a later date.

Here are more pictures of the soup!

Soup with a halo of light!