Ribollita it is a soup made with black cabbage, cannellini beans and toasted bread, typical of Tuscany and a symbol of poor cuisine. It was widespread especially in the provinces of Arezzo, Florence and Pisa, and was the main dish of the cold winter evenings. Being a poor dish, of the peasant tradition, it has always been cooked in many ways, but ingredients such as black cabbage or Tuscan salt-free bread have always been part of this recipe.
The ribollita in history
The origins of this soup are to be traced in the peasant world, when the poor people recovered the large slices of bread on which the lords wanted meat to be served. This bread, flavored with the aroma of meat, was cooked in broth, together with a mixture of herbs and vegetables found in the countryside: carrots, celery, herbs and black cabbage. The soup was so cooked and heated several times, because it had to last for several days. Hence the name with which it is still known.
Ribollita variations
Like any popular recipe, ribollita can also boast a long series of variants. Especially as regards the vegetables to be combined with black cabbage and savoy cabbage. Zucchini, peas and potatoes are the ingredients most often added to the soup. There are often recipes in which a rustic bread appears, not necessarily bland. Finally, when consumed the following day, it is served with a onion sauté which is added after having "ribollita", together with a sprinkling of black pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
The ribollita recipe
Ingredients
700 g black cabbage, 300 g cannellini beans, 50 g carrot, 50 g celery, 50 g onion, 2 tomatoes and 1 tablespoon of concentrate, 500 g herbs, 150 g cabbage, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, Tuscan bread.
Method
To prepare the ribollita, soak the cannellini beans in water for 12 hours, rinse them, drain them and boil them (start with cold water) making them simmer for 45 '. Then cut into small cubes celery, carrot and onion; clean the herbs dividing the leaves from the stems, then cut both finely. Clean the black cabbage and savoy cabbage and cut them into strips. Put 3-4 spoons of oil, celery, carrot and onion and the stems of the herbs in a crock pot. Brown everything together for 10 ', until the vegetables soften, then add the leaves of the herbs, the cabbage, the savoy cabbage, the sliced tomatoes and the spoonful of concentrate. Cook well in the sauté for 10 minutes, then cover with the broth and cook with the lid for 15-20 minutes. Add 4 ladles of the cooking water from the beans to bind the soup a little. Blend a third of the cooked vegetables together with half the beans, then put the cream back in the crock pot, together with the remaining beans. Add salt and cook for 40 minutes, turn off and serve the ribollita in crock cooked with 2 slices of Tuscan bread each, well soaked, completing with a drizzle of raw oil and pepper.
