{"id":7848,"date":"2011-09-20T23:58:44","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T03:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/?p=7848"},"modified":"2019-08-22T23:37:08","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T03:37:08","slug":"cook-in-the-moment-ribollita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/cook-in-the-moment-ribollita\/","title":{"rendered":"Ribollita"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ribollita<\/a>

Ribollita<\/p><\/div>\n

Each week I contribute a column to “Whole Foods Market Cooking Boulder” expanding on one of the 10 Ways Tuesday ideas. This week I shared a recipe for Ribollita, a hearty Tuscan soup featuring a type of kale called cavolo nero. Here is the original article:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This week,\u00a0La Domestique<\/strong><\/a>is devoted to kale, a large, leafy green that comes into season just as the summer squash and tomatoes taper off. Several varieties of kale are available in the grocery store and farmers’ market. The leaves can be black and deeply wrinkled, green with a stiff and curly shape, or feathered with a red vein. One of my favorites is Cavolo Nero, also called Tuscan kale, Lacinato, or dinosaur kale.<\/p>\n

According to Lidia Bastianich, the queen of Italian cuisine, Cavolo Nero is the traditional green used in Tuscan Ribollita, a hearty vegetable soup thickened with day-old bread. In Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, she describes the flavor of Cavolo Nero as \u201can earthy, mouth-filling flavor, as if cabbage, broccoli, chicory, and spinach were all packed into one leaf.\u201d Ribollita is Italian for \u201creboiled,” which makes sense considering Ribollita was originally peasant food, invented to stretch leftover minestrone. The soup was so delicious and satisfying that Ribollita eventually morphed into a dish in its own right.<\/p>\n

Ribollita is a true pantry supper. It begins with soffrito, the Italian base of saut\u00e9ed onions, celery, carrot, and garlic. Canned tomatoes provide depth of flavor while cannellini beans are a cheap but tasty source of protein. The blistered leaves of Cavolo Nero contribute texture and a nutty, slightly bitter flavor. Chunks of stale bread added at the end of cooking absorb broth and thicken the soup.<\/p>\n

There is no wrong way to make Ribollita, as long as you honor its spirit. Enjoy the chance to improvise and make this dish your own by using ingredients from your pantry. Have a jar of dried oregano hanging out in the spice cabinet? Toss some in. Is there a Parmesan rind languishing in your fridge? Drop it into the soup for a more buxom flavor. Just remember to keep it simple. Ribollita is cozy comfort food, perfect for the cool days of autumn.<\/p>\n

\"Ribollita<\/a>

Ribollita Ingredients<\/p><\/div>\n

Recipe for Ribollita<\/h4>\n

serves 6<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/h5>\n

3 tablespoons olive oil
\n2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
\n1 onion, chopped
\n1\/4 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper flakes
\n1 carrot, chopped
\n1 rib of celery, chopped
\n28 ounces (1 can) plum tomatoes
\n1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
\n1 potato, peeled and diced
\n1 pound cavolo nero, or any other variety of kale, trimmed and chopped into bite sized pieces
\n15 ounces (1 can) cannellini beans
\n4-6 thick slices of country bread, torn into pieces
\n4 cups water<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Heat olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add garlic, onion, and crushed red chili pepper flakes. Sweat the onions until translucent, about 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

Toss in the carrot and celery with a pinch of salt and sweat the vegetables 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, trim the hard stem ends off the tomatoes and discard. Crush the tomatoes with your hands.<\/p>\n

Pour the tomatoes (and their juices) into the pot with the thyme, potato, and 3 cups water. Bring the soup to a simmer, turn the heat down and partially cover with the lid. Keep the soup at a low simmer for about 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Toss in the kale with another cup of water, a pinch of salt and some freshly ground pepper. Partially cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Add the canned beans and continue to simmer the soup 5 more minutes.<\/p>\n

Stir in the bread and serve with a drizzle of spicy Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil. The soup should be thickened by the bread, but not at all dry.<\/p>\n

\"Whole<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each week I contribute a column to “Whole Foods Market Cooking Boulder” expanding on one of the 10 Ways Tuesday ideas. This week I shared a recipe for Ribollita, a hearty Tuscan soup featuring a type of kale called cavolo nero. Here is the original article: This week,\u00a0La Domestiqueis devoted to kale, a large, leafy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","spay_email":""},"categories":[240,210,184,93,223,227,241],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7848"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19381,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7848\/revisions\/19381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/dsweb.jessicaotoole.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}