Tuscan Bread and Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 300 g Cannellini beans
• 300 g Cavolo nero
• 200 g Savoy cabbage
• 150 g Swiss chard
• 1 Potato
• 1 Onion
• 1 Carrot
• 1 stalk Celery
• 200 g Tomatoes
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1 leaf Sage
• 300 g Stale unsalted bread
• 6 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• 0.5 Red onion
• 1 tsp Salt
• 0.5 tsp Black pepper

Steps

1. If using dried beans, soak the cannellini overnight, then simmer them in unsalted water with a garlic clove and a sage leaf until tender, about 1 hour.
2. Drain, keeping the cooking liquid.
3. Pass about two-thirds of the beans through a food mill or blend them with a ladle of their liquid into a smooth purée.
4. Leave the remaining third whole and set both aside.
5. Make a soffritto: gently sweat the finely chopped onion, carrot and celery in olive oil over low heat for about 10 minutes, until soft and golden but not browned.
6. Strip the cavolo nero leaves from their stalks and roughly chop them with the shredded savoy cabbage, chard and a peeled diced potato.
7. Add to the soffritto and stir for a few minutes.
8. Stir in the peeled tomatoes, crushing them with a spoon.
9. Pour in the whole beans, the bean purée and enough of the reserved cooking liquid to cover.
10. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Simmer the soup gently for about 1 hour, until the cavolo nero is meltingly tender and the broth is thick.
12. Stir occasionally so nothing catches on the bottom.
13. In a separate pot or terracotta dish, layer slices of stale unsalted Tuscan bread with ladlefuls of the hot soup, alternating until both are used up.
14. Press down lightly and let it rest, covered, for several hours or overnight.
15. The next day, 're-boil' the ribollita: gently reheat it in the pot, stirring so the softened bread melts into the soup and it becomes thick enough for a spoon to stand up in it.
16. Serve in warm bowls, top with thin rings of raw red onion if liked.
17. Finish each portion with a generous drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a turn of black pepper.

Tips

• Use unsalted Tuscan-style bread (pane sciocco) that is at least a day or two old — fresh bread turns to mush instead of giving body.
• Cavolo nero (Tuscan kale) is essential; cabbage that has felt a frost is sweeter. The dish is meant to be made a day ahead — the overnight rest and re-boiling are what make it ribollita.