My Favourite Ribollita La Mia Ribollita Preferita Recipes

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!