Ribollita (Vegetable, Bean & Bread Casserole)

By 5har0n_nguy3n

Note: Make 1 day ahead

What a lot of things the famous (though rather poorly imitated) Ribollita brings to mind! Few nowdays know hot to cook it properly, because it requires a lot of love and time and, of course, simple and genuine ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 Fairly Large Red-Skinned Onion
• 2 Carrots
• 1 Stick of Celery
• 4 Potatoes
• 10 Zucchini
• 300 g Dried Beans
• Bunch of Swiss Chard
• 1 Savoy Cabbage
• 1 Bunch of Tuscan "Black" Cabbage or Kale
• Tomato Purèe
• 2 Days Stale, Tuscan, White Bread

Details

Preparation time 180mins
Cooking time 181mins

Preparation

Step 1

Soak the dried beans and cook over a slow flame. In a pan, gently fry the onion, sliced. Add the other vegetables, diced, with the exception of the cabbage, kale and beans which are added at a later point. When the vegetables have sweated out their juice, cover with hot water and then add all the cabbage and kale, shredded. Cover and simmer for an hour over medium heat. Add the cooked beans (some of them whole and some pourèed), salt and pepper. Leave to simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring frequently because the beans tend to stick to the bottom of the pan. Add two or three tablespoons of tomato purèe.

Slice the Stale bread and, in an earthenware casserole, alternate layers of bread with the soup until the bread is well impregnated. Leave to stand for a day. To serve, remove the desired quantity from the casserole and heat it up or "re-boil" it as the name in Italian suggests.