Ribollita (Reboiled Italian Cabbage Soup)
Ribollita means twice-cooked, or 'reboiled,' in Italian. A white bean stock is livened up with greens, tomatoes, and potatoes with added slices of toasted bread. The soup should be refrigerated overnight. All you'll have to do the next day is reboil it. Allow time for soaking the beans.
Ingredients
Serves: 12
- 2 cups (300g) dry cannellini beans
- 4 cups (1 litre) water
- 3 (1.5 litre) cartons chicken broth
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 sage leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil
- 2 medium yellow onions, diced
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 3 large stalks celery, chopped
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 1/2 cups green cabbage, coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch Swiss chard, trimmed and chopped
- 1 bunch kale, trimmed and chopped
- 1 (400g) can diced tomatoes
- 12 (1.5cm thick) slices French bread, lightly toasted
- 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups (120g) grated Parmesan cheese for topping
- 1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil
Directions
Prep:20min ›
Cook:4hr50min ›
Extra time:12hr cooling ›
Ready in:17hr10min
- Sort and rinse the beans before placing them in a large pot with the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 5 minutes. Turn off heat, cover, and let stand 1 1/2 hours. Drain.
- Place the beans, chicken broth, garlic, sage leaves, bay leaves, and salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until beans are tender, about 2 hours. Cool. Remove 1 cup of beans. Discard the bay leaves and sage leaves. Blend the remaining bean mixture with a hand mixer until smooth. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions; cook and stir until transparent, about 10 minutes. Combine the carrots, celery, potatoes, cabbage, Swiss chard, and kale with the onions. Stir in the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover, and cook until greens have wilted, stirring at least once, about 20 minutes. Stir in the pureed bean mixture, and cook 40 minute until the mixture thickens. Stir in the reserved beans. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add the toasted bread slices; cook until bread is soaked, about 10 minutes longer. Cool, and refrigerate overnight.
- Reheat the soup over low heat until heated through, about 20 minutes. Serve each serving garnished with 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.
In step 2, the bean mixture can also be pureed in batches by using a regular blender or a food processor.
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Reviews and ratings
Global ratings:
(63)
Reviews in English (44)
Very filling soup! Similar to the one I had in Tuscany, minus the canned tomatoes which I left out as personal preference. Don't cook for too long or else the cabbage goes mushy and tasteless, and choose stale bread -soaked in cold water for a day or two- for the best results. A wonderful fall or winter soup that doesn't disappoint. Thanks for sharing Josie! - 04 Aug 2007 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
Our family had picked lots of produce at a farm and this was an excellent way to use it up. I cannot think of a kale and chard soup that I have enjoyed as much! I bypassed the sauteing of veggies and just put them directly into the soup. We used Eden's canned cannellini beans instead of cooking from scratch and Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes. My french bread was a few days old. It was difficult to toast in my toaster, so I chose to fry it lightly with olive oil, and I would do that again, as it added lots of flavor! I also used a powdered vegetable broth from Frontier instead of chicken broth and a very small amount of diced jalapeno- not traditional but very tasty! - 01 Nov 2008 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)
This is a fantastic soup recipe. I did add extra chicken broth, 1 cup fresh parsley, extra potatoes, carrots, celery, and cabbage. Added thyme, savory, italian seasoning and cut down on the olive oil. - 04 Dec 2010 (Review from Allrecipes US | Canada)