Like most Tuscan dishes, ribollita has humble origins, which date back to the medieval era. Its name means “reboiled,” which suggests that, like panzanella and pappa al pomodoro, ribollita is rooted in the centuries-old Italian philosophy of letting no leftovers going to waste.
It’s believed that peasants made the soup by placing stale bread inside the previous day’s minestrone, which was then brought to a boil and called dinner. Not only did this prevent the bread from going to waste, it also gave the soup a hearty texture.
The late and great Pellegrino Artusi included the cannellini bean and bread soup in his 1891 tome Science in the Kitchen and Art of Eating Well (La scienza in cucina e l‘arta di mangiar bene). He described recipe number 58, Tuscan Lean Peasant Soup (Zuppa Toscana di Magro alla Contadina) as such, “This soup which, out of modesty, is given the epithet of peasant, I am convinced that it will be appreciated by everyone, even by gentlemen, if made with due attention.” And he was right.
Ribollita traditional recipe
Serves 6
Skill Level Easy
Time 2 hours + 12 hours of soaking the beans
Vegetarian
Ingredients:
14 oz. black cabbage
10 oz. dried cannellini beans
7 oz. beets, cleaned and cut into small pieces
2 celery stalks
2 small carrots
2 medium-sized zucchini
2 garlic cloves
1 onion
tomato concentrate
stale bread
bay leaf
rosemary
extra virgin olive oil
salt
black pepper
Method:
Soak the cannellini beans the day before preparing the recipe, then cook them in plenty of boiling salted water with 1 bay leaf and 1 garlic clove. Bring to a boil and cook until al dente.
Blend half of it with 1 ladle of cooking water and set aside the rest of the water.
Clean the black cabbage, removing the fibrous central part. Wash the other vegetables and cut them into pieces.
Dissolve 2 Tbsp. tomato paste in 1½ cups warm water.
Fry the carrots, celery, onion, and zucchini with 3 Tbsp. oil for 10 minutes. Add the dissolved tomato paste and the black cabbage, then add salt and pepper and cook for 30 minutes in a covered pot over a low flame.
Add the beans, both whole and blended, and the cleaned beets and cook for another 25 minutes in the covered pot. If necessary, add a few ladles of bean cooking water.
Break up 3 slices of bread, add them to the soup, and cook for another 5 minutes.
Prepare a flavored oil by heating 6 Tbsp. in a saucepan with 2 rosemary sprigs and 1 clove of peeled and crushed garlic, until it begins to brown. Switch off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes, then strain.
Spread the soup on plates with half a slice of bread for each; complete with a drizzle of flavored oil, a sprinkle of pepper, and serve.