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beppe · 10-26-2010, 06:37 PM

When you go to Florence remember to eat their minestrone (beans and cabbage mostly) that they call ribollita (re-boiled). I am sure some of you, distinguished members, have rejoyced in the savory dish. Now, the season for kale and royal cabbage is underway, and although their flavor is not at the peak (that will be after the first frosts), I bought them and made a nice batch of ribollita. Quite good and tasty. It is a long preparation but easy, oh so easy.

You start with putting the white beans (cannellini) under water overnight. I did that Saturday evening and Sunday morning I hade them ready (a full package of 500 g.).

Sunday evening I started to work on the soup. I stripped the kale of the stems that are quite hard and steamed the leafs in the MW for an extra 10 minutes, (precooking the kale). I then put two fingers of oil in a high pot (steel) with a chopped onion and few cloves of garlic to take color. BTW I use only super duper extra vergin oil made with pure hands by the mother of my friend that picks her olives one by one and kisses them good bye before squeezing them, blah blah, that is the quality of the ingredients is sort of important in a recipe like this). Then pour in it celery and leeks, and the shredded kale and royal cabbage and stir once in a while until they go all soft and tender, poor things. About 10 minutes. Then I put in water in the measure of 300 cc for 100 g of beans. In the present case 1.5 liters. And the beans. Some salt. Lid. Cook at slow fire for 2 hours.
In the meantime I prepared a glass of oil in which I put 2 cloves of garlic and few stems of rosmary and cooked on lively heat until the garlic got color. I then passed through a colander and set the oil aside. When the beans where cooked, I took out about half of them and whipped smooth with Braun, my stick blender. Poured it back in the pot and added the oil. Stirred well and let rest over very low heat for few minutes. I then put in the soup about 400 g. of that unsalted bread that they do in Florence, stale and cut in fine tranches. Stirred it, covered it and let it rest untill the day after.

That was Monday evening when I came home from work. Hungry as hell. Took out a pan, a whirl of that olive oil, and when it started to fizzle I dumped in the pan a couple of laddles of the soup, that had become quite dense. I moved it around in the pan and tried a couple of somersaults with deft wrist. A couple of turns of black pepper, dished out. No cheese. The parfume was just the best apero (long gone the time of Bitter Campari or of wiskey sour or even a gentle Manhattan, bye to you all good friends). Delicious. Not even a glass of red, but the good food and its flavor compensate and gratify.

Ingredients
500 g. of white beans (cannelini)
1 kale
1 royal cabbage
1 onion
6 cloves of garlic
2 glasses of olive oil
celery and leek
salt, pepper

10-26-2010, 06:37 PM	#808
beppe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,161 Karma: 81026524 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Italy Device: Kindle3, Ipod4, IPad2	Ribollita When you go to Florence remember to eat their minestrone (beans and cabbage mostly) that they call ribollita (re-boiled). I am sure some of you, distinguished members, have rejoyced in the savory dish. Now, the season for kale and royal cabbage is underway, and although their flavor is not at the peak (that will be after the first frosts), I bought them and made a nice batch of ribollita. Quite good and tasty. It is a long preparation but easy, oh so easy. You start with putting the white beans (cannellini) under water overnight. I did that Saturday evening and Sunday morning I hade them ready (a full package of 500 g.). Sunday evening I started to work on the soup. I stripped the kale of the stems that are quite hard and steamed the leafs in the MW for an extra 10 minutes, (precooking the kale). I then put two fingers of oil in a high pot (steel) with a chopped onion and few cloves of garlic to take color. BTW I use only super duper extra vergin oil made with pure hands by the mother of my friend that picks her olives one by one and kisses them good bye before squeezing them, blah blah, that is the quality of the ingredients is sort of important in a recipe like this). Then pour in it celery and leeks, and the shredded kale and royal cabbage and stir once in a while until they go all soft and tender, poor things. About 10 minutes. Then I put in water in the measure of 300 cc for 100 g of beans. In the present case 1.5 liters. And the beans. Some salt. Lid. Cook at slow fire for 2 hours. In the meantime I prepared a glass of oil in which I put 2 cloves of garlic and few stems of rosmary and cooked on lively heat until the garlic got color. I then passed through a colander and set the oil aside. When the beans where cooked, I took out about half of them and whipped smooth with Braun, my stick blender. Poured it back in the pot and added the oil. Stirred well and let rest over very low heat for few minutes. I then put in the soup about 400 g. of that unsalted bread that they do in Florence, stale and cut in fine tranches. Stirred it, covered it and let it rest untill the day after. That was Monday evening when I came home from work. Hungry as hell. Took out a pan, a whirl of that olive oil, and when it started to fizzle I dumped in the pan a couple of laddles of the soup, that had become quite dense. I moved it around in the pan and tried a couple of somersaults with deft wrist. A couple of turns of black pepper, dished out. No cheese. The parfume was just the best apero (long gone the time of Bitter Campari or of wiskey sour or even a gentle Manhattan, bye to you all good friends). Delicious. Not even a glass of red, but the good food and its flavor compensate and gratify. Ingredients 500 g. of white beans (cannelini) 1 kale 1 royal cabbage 1 onion 6 cloves of garlic 2 glasses of olive oil celery and leek salt, pepper Last edited by beppe; 10-26-2010 at 11:55 PM.