Ribollita - Tuscan Vegetable Soup
Ribollita, a hearty Tuscan vegetable soup made with cannellini beans, cavolo nero, bread, potatoes and garlic it's packed full of nutrition and flavour. A great recipe for chilly winter evenings!
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
For the beans
- 1 1/2 cups 250g dried cannellini beans
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 5 sage leaves
- 3 cloves peeled garlic
For the soup
- 1 carrot
- 1 white onion
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 leek sliced
- 1 lb (500g) cavolo nero
- 2 medium sized potatoes peeled and cut into cubes (around 560g/oz)
- 1 cup 270g canned chopped tomatoes
- 5 cups/ 1 litre vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 7 oz (200g) crusty bread
Instructions
- First, soak the dried cannellini beans in cold water for at least 12 hours (ideally 24 hours).
- Once the beans have soaked, drain them and add them to a pot with 3 peeled garlic cloves, two sprigs of rosemary and 5 sage leaves. Cover the beans with 4 cups/1 litre water and place on a low heat, covered. *see notes if using pre-cooked cannellini beans.
- Let the beans simmer gently for 2 hours then remove the beans with a slotted spoon and place in a separate bowl and discard the rosemary and sage. Keep the bean cooking liquid, this will act as your stock for the soup.
- Finely chop the carrot, onion and celery and add to a large pot with the olive oil. Saute gently until soft then add the potato (peeled and cubed) and the leek, continue to cook until the leek has softened.
- Add the bean cooking liquid, vegetable stock and canned chopped tomatoes along with a good pinch of salt and pepper, simmer gently for 40 minutes.
- Now add the roughly chopped cavolo nero and cannellini beans, simmer covered for 20 minutes then add the chopped bread. Simmer gently for another 10 minutes then serve.
Notes
- If you're pressed for time, skip the first 3 steps and add pre-cooked canned cannellini beans in at the end. Replace the bean cooking liquid with extra vegetable stock.
- Overall time excludes bean soaking time
Nutrition
Calories: 235kcal
