My Life Revolves Around Soup

I don't know why, but soup is pretty much always the first thing I think of whenever the question, "What's for dinner?" comes a-knocking at my door.  It's just the perfect little meal.  And I tend to make really hearty soups that might actually qualify as "warm bowls of stuff" rather than soup.  Brothy little numbers are good for what they are, as a side, as an appetizer, as a preliminary to "OK, so, um, what's for dinner?"  (Which, coincidentally, happens to be my dad's comment after finishing any vegetarian meal.)  But I just live for the kinds of soups that require nothing but a large hunk of bread and some roasted veggies.  Viva the warm bowls of stuff!

Last week I made an awesome soup/stew/warm bowl of stuff that came to me via Heidi, by way of Ileney.  Ribollita, according to Heidi, means "reboiled" in Italian.  And it's one of those meal in a bowl type of soups that I am obviously all about.  And I like any excuse to buy real bread, as opposed to high fiber sliced bread that I use for sandwiches and toast.

I tried using dried Great Northern beans, but I think I overcooked them because they were all falling apart, like so.

Actually, some were overcooked, and some under.  I will have to play around a little more because I like the idea of using dried beans.

 

One of these things isn't like the others... I had one random piece of yellow chard in with my batch of red.  Hm.

Ribollita

adapted from Heidi Swanson's 101cookbooks.com

Ingredients

3 tbsp EVOO

4 celery stalks

3 medium cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes*

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 pound Tuscan kale, stems trimmed off and leaves well chopped (I used red chard and thought it was great, but I would be curious to see what flavor the kale adds, since it's a bit more bitter than chard)

4 cups cooked white beans

1/2 lb crustless loaf of bread

1 1/2+ tsp sea salt

zest of one lemon

lots of well-chopped oily black olives

Method:

In a large thick-bottomed pot over medium hear combine the olive oil, celery, garlic, carrot, and red onion.  Cook for 10-15 minutes sweating the vegetables (I finally understand what this means), but avoid any browning.  Stir in the tomatoes and red pepper flakes, and simmer for another 10 minutes or so, long enough for the tomatoes to thicken up a bit.  Stir in the kale (or chard), 3 cups of the beans, and 8 cups water.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the greens are tender, about 15 minutes.

In the meantime, mash or puree the remaining beans with a generous splash of water - until smooth. Tear the bread into bite-sized chunks. Stir both the beans and bread into the soup. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the bread breaks down and the soup thickens, 20 - 30 minutes. Stir in the salt, taste and add more if needed. 

Stir in the lemon zest.

Serve immediately, or cool and refrigerate overnight. Serve reheated, or "ribollita" meaning reboiled, the next day ladled into bowls. Finish each serving with a drizzle of olive oil and some chopped olives.

Makes a large pot of soup - enough for 10 servings.

*For the crushed tomatoes, I highly recommend San Marzano brand.  I should have known these were the real deal when Deb recommended them.  Seriously, I would follow this woman off the edge of any culinary cliff.  But no joke, I just started eating the leftovers straight out of the can.  Sweetest, freshest canned tomatoes I've ever tasted.

I made about 2/3 of the recipe and it was STILL so much food!  Like 8 servings?  Also, I wasn't paying attention and left the crust on the bread.  I recommend following the directions.  I ended up with lots of bread chunks that didn't break down well in the soup like they should have.