Ribollita Di Luana Food

RIBOLLITA

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, pancetta, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook until the onion is golden brown and the pancetta is crisp, about 7 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir until dissolved. Add tomatoes and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to release all the brown bits. Add the spinach, beans, herbs, stock, bay leaf, and Parmesan rind. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Drizzle the ciabatta halves with olive oil. Toast until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and rub the top of the toasts with the whole garlic clove. Place the toasts in the serving bowls and ladle the soup over the toasts. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve immediately.

RIBOLLITA DI LUANA

Steps:

• Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the oil. When hot, stir in the onion, garlic, celery, carrots, zucchini, squash, fennel and cabbage. Season with salt. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the beans, tomatoes, herbs and 2 cups water. Season with more salt, then gently fold together until combined. Press on the solids so they are submerged in the water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour. Stir gently only once or twice.
• Fold in the spinach and simmer 30 minutes more. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in more salt and red-pepper flakes to taste.
• Ladle the soup into individual serving bowls. Drizzle each with olive oil and sprinkle with grated Parmesan. If you choose, serve with bread.

RIBOLLITA

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add carrots, onion and celery; cook until crisp-tender, 5-7 minutes. Stir in garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add next 7 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender, 15-20 minutes. , Stir in bread; cook and stir until bread is softened. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

RIBOLLITA (ITALIAN VEGETABLE AND BREAD SOUP)

Steps:

• First take one of your onions, and chop it so that you have one cup of chopped onions.
• Heat 2 tablespoons in a large oven-safe pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Once heated, add the chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Season generously with salt and pepper, and let the vegetables sauté for about 10 minutes, until soft and just starting to gain a little color. You may want to reduce the heat a little once the veggies get going.
• Keep an eye on the sautéing vegetables while you slice the remaining two onions. You want to have round slices that will hold their shape and not fall apart. You can probably get 8-9 slices out of a large onion. Set aside.
• Drain and rinse one can of the beans, then place in a food processor to puree. If you don't have a food processor you can mash with a fork or potato masher. Pureeing the beans helps to give the soup its distinctive texture. Drain the rinse the second can of beans, but leave those beans whole.
• By now your vegetables should be nicely sautéed. Stir in the oregano, tomatoes, beans, and tomato paste, and let simmer for 2-3 minutes.
• Add 5 cups of vegetable broth to the pot, and bring the soup to a steady simmer. Add the parmesan rind, and let simmer for 20 minutes.
• Arrange your oven racks so that your pot will fit in your oven. Heat your oven to 500 degrees.
• Stir in the swiss chard or kale, then place the slices of bread on top of the soup, arranging them in a single flat layer so they do not overlap. I like to cut the slices of bread in half to make this easy.
• Next, arrange the onions on top the bread, letting them overlap slightly. You want the liquid of the soup to be just reaching the onions, if it isn't, go ahead an add more broth to the soup. Now take that 1/4 cup of olive oil, and brush half of it over the onions.
• Sprinkle half of the Parmesan on top.
• Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, then remove from the oven. Check the amount of liquid in the pot, adding more if necessary. You want the liquid to be just reaching those onions - it is better to have extra liquid than to have your soup dry out or overcook. Next brush the remaining olive oil over onions, and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Return the soup to the oven for another 20-25 minutes, until the onions are golden brown.
• Remove the soup from the oven, and stir it up. It is meant to be very thick, but you can always add more broth if you find it to be too thick. Sometimes I just top off each bowl of soup with a few tablespoons of extra broth.
• Traditionally Ribollita is served with olive oil poured in the shape of the letter "C" on top, and no cheese. I however, I do like to sprinkle Parmesan over the soup. Please don't tell the Italians. I also garnish with some fresh basil with adds a burst of fresh flavor to the soup.

RIBOLLITA (TUSCAN WINTER SOUP) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Boil the beans in water to cover by about 2 inches (4 centimeters), adding more boiling water if need be to keep them submerged, and lightly salting them when they're almost done.
• At this point, sauté the onion, carrot, celery, and parsley in the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot.
• When the onion has become translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes, add the tomato paste and the cooking liquid from the beans.
• Add the kale, beet greens or chard, and potatoes.
• Stir in the cooked beans and season to taste with salt, pepper, and a sprig of thyme.
• Simmer until the potatoes are tender and can be pierced easily with the tines of a fork, about 10 to 15 minutes.
• Remove the thyme and discard.
• Take a serving dish that can be heated and fill it with alternating layers of thinly sliced bread and soup, making sure the bread is damp-until the soup is used up.
• Serve and enjoy!

RIBOLLITA

Steps:

• Drain and rinse cannellini beans and place in a large pot. Pour in enough water to cover; add salt. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid. Set aside 1/2 of the beans. Puree the remaining beans in the pot using an immersion blender.
• Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Cook onion, celery, and carrot until soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Add 1/2 of the reserved cooking liquid, pureed beans, potatoes, kale, Swiss chard, Savoy cabbage, and tomato puree. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until potatoes are soft, about 40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Stir whole beans into the saucepan with the remaining cooking liquid. Cook for 15 minutes. Remove soup from heat; let stand for 15 minutes.
• Chop bread and add to the soup a few pieces at a time so it soaks up the liquid and thickens the soup. Bring soup back to a boil. Remove from heat.

RAE'S RIBOLLITA

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat, finely chop and add the pancetta, chilli flakes and fennel seeds, then fry for 3 minutes.
• Meanwhile, dice the carrot and celery into 1cm chunks, and peel finely chop the onion. Tie the rosemary sprigs together with string.
• Add the chopped veg and rosemary to the pan, then reduce the heat to low and cook gently for 15 to 20 minutes, or until softened and caramelised.
• Tip in the tomatoes, squashing and crushing them through your clean hands, followed by the beans (juice and all), and 1.8 litres of water. Bring to the boil, then turn down and simmer for 30 minutes, or until the veg is tender and the liquid has thickened slightly.
• Meanwhile, strip the cavolo nero leaves from their stalks and roughly chop them, adding them to the pan after 10 minutes.
• When the veg is tender, pick out and discard the rosemary.
• Tear the bread into small chunks, dot it into the pan, and continue to simmer gently for around 10 minutes, or until the bread has broken down and the soup is thick and creamy, stirring regularly.
• Season to perfection with sea salt and black pepper, then drizzle lightly with cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil before serving.

TUSCAN RIBOLLITA

Steps:

• 1 In a large pot over medium heat, sauté the first five ingredients in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil for 5 minutes.
• 2 Add the tomatoes and their juices, along with the beans, broth, and rosemary. Simmer, covered, until the beans break apart, about an hour.
• 3 Add the kale and cook for 5 to 7 minutes more. Stir in the bread crumbs and serve, drizzled with the remaining olive oil and sprinkled with the cheese.

MY FAVOURITE RIBOLLITA (LA MIA RIBOLLITA PREFERITA)

Steps:

• Add your fresh or dried and soaked beans to a pan of water with the bay leaf - this will help to flavour the beans and soften their skins. Squash the tomato, peel the potato and add both to the pan. Cook until the beans are tender - taste one to check they're nice and soft. Dried beans can take up to an hour, but check fresh ones after 25 minutes. Drain (reserving about half a glass of the cooking water), and discard the bay leaf, tomato and potato.
• Peel and finely chop your onions, carrots and garlic. Trim and finely chop the celery.
• Heat a saucepan with a splash of olive oil and add the vegetables to the pan with the ground fennel seeds and chilli. Sweat very slowly on a low heat with the lid just ajar for around 15 to 20 minutes until soft, but not brown.
• Add the tomatoes and bring to a gentle simmer for a few minutes.
• Add the cooked and drained beans with a little of the water they were cooked in, and bring back to the boil.
• Finely slice the cavolo nero (stalks and all) and add to the pan - it will look like loads, but don't worry as it will cook down.
• Tear the bread into chunks, then moisten with a little of the cooking water and stir it in too. The soup should be thick but not dry, so add a little more cooking water if you need to loosen it. Continue cooking for about 30 minutes - you want to achieve a silky, thick soup.
• Season the ribollita with sea salt and black pepper, and stir in 4 good lugs of good-quality Tuscan extra virgin olive oil before serving to give it a glossy velvety texture.
• Delicious served on a cold winter's day with lots and lots of Chianti!