Cooking as reminiscense , comfort, and so many things: ribollita

Today, ragazzi, a dish that you may have heard of:  ribollita.  Literally "reboiled," and ending with an "a" because we are reboiling soup,  and soup is feminine in Italian.  At first, Annalena thought that this was the dish du jour (or, more appropriately, dish del giorno) because, well, she wanted to make it, it's comfortable, the Guyman and she are on a soup adventure this week (tune in), and things like that. But as she made the dish and sat, thinking about things during a wonderful concert last night, she thought of how this dish conjures up some of the things you tend to forget, or not appreciate when they happen.  See, for many, MANY years, a chef named George (she won't give his full name and embarrass him: he wouldn't like that).  George sent out the ribollita - which was always on the cold weather menu as a freebie- anytime we were there.  It was as close to a HUG as we could get.  The restaurant was, and is very busy, and George was in charge. So, hope this satisfies you Mr K.

Ribollita is a Tuscan soup.  And those of you who know something about Tuscan cooking, will see it from some of the characterisics: it is LOADED with greens.  There are beans in it.  (HINT:  if you see beans and greens in a dish, think Tuscany).  It also uses water as a broth, not stock (another hint).  And it uses stale bread.  (Four for four.  Italian cooks are smiling).  When you see the ingredients , you will wonder; however, ragazzi, this dish exceeds what you expect from the parts of it.  HOW much it exceeds, depends on your care and attention.

Let's begin.  First,  let's show the ingredients:

If you are having trouble seeing and distinguishing, what we have are black kale (Tuscan kale, lascianto kale, dinosaur kale, it's all the same),  regular kale, swiss chard, plain cabbage, some white carrots, and in the back, onions and potatoes.  The quantities of these vegetables will vary, but you should have at least a good quantity of the Tuscan kale.    And let's not forget:

Three cups of these, or more.  Now, Annalena cooked these, and they are "cassoulet" beans.  Canellini are traditional, but use a small white bean. Whatever you have. AND COOK THEM YOURSELF IT IS NOT HARD.   You know how Annalena feels about canned beans. 

Get about 2/3 of those beans, cooked soft, and puree them in their cooking water:  whatever is left:

Let's now go back to our veggies.  Chop up the onions, and get them going in a few tablespoons of olive oil, in the BIGGEST soup pot you have (Annalena is NOT kidding about this):

While these are cooking, chop up the carrots real fine.  You can do this in the food processor, and also, peel and cut the potatoes.  Use something like yukon golds. You want about a pound.  Here's the part that Annalena likes the best:  you are going to mix all these vegetables together and put them in at the same time.  BUT FIRST: get a few tablespoons of good quality tomato paste, mix it up in some water to dissolve it, and stir it into the onions. Now add the bean puree  And after you've done that, just pile up the veggies. Oh, yeah, add a cup of celery too;

That looks pretty crowded doesn't it? Well, we're going to be adding more stuff.  Get 8 cups of water, and SLOWLY add it at the side.  It will go in, just be patient.  Finally, it's time to add a cook's trick:

This little secret ingredien is the rind of parmesan cheese. Save your cheese rinds if you can't get them elsewhere, and if you happen to see them, buy them.  They will add flavor everywhere you add them.  You should generally look for a BIG piece so you can pull it out, but Annalena likes to eat the small ones, so she doesn't care.  You put all of this on top of the greens, cover the pot, and let it cook.  It WILL cook down. Here's how it looks after fifteen minutes:

See what Annalena means?  And then, at the end of 45 minutes:

Looking good. We could eat this, but then, it wouldn't be ribollita.  No, sir.  So, what you do now is you let the soup sit to cool down.  You always make ribollita in the cold weather, so don't worry about how you're going to move this to your fridge, just let it cool at room temperature.  

Next day, get some stale country style bread. Annalena had a loaf of sourdough, as she usually does.  Use the soft white part, and put it right on top of the soup:

Stir it in, bring the thing back to a simmer, cover the pot, and let it cook for thirty minutes. The bread will dissolve some, but not completely:

Don't you think it looks good?  It looks BETTER in your bowl, with lots of grated parmesan (this is Tuscany, so we use parmesan), a drop or two of good olive oil, and some black pepper.  There are variations on this using way more tomato than this one, and sometimes, you're told to put it under the broiler to get a crunch topping. all well and good.   This version is fine to Annalena.  

And you've got TONS of soup here ragazzi, maybe four quarts. Well, guess what?  It's time to share. And sharing is what we need right now.  Share it with EVERYONE .  Give someone a bowl of hot soup today.  Annalena guarantees you, you'll love it.  So will they