Ribollita (Twice Cooked Tuscan Soup) – Serves 12

Ingredients:

• 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) unsalted Tuscan bread

• 1 kg (2.2 lbs.) dry cannellini beans

• 3 bunches Tuscan black cabbage* shredded

• 1 Napa cabbage shredded

• 1 leek roughly chopped

• 4 carrots roughly chopped

• 1 large onion (red preferred) chopped

• 4 zucchini sliced

• 4 potatoes cut into cubes or sliced (your preference)

• 4 celery stalks roughly chopped

• parsley (according to taste)

• 1 large can San Marzano whole tomatoes chopped

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

• salt to taste

• Water or broth

Preparation:

*Kale Lacinato. Known as Tuscan Black Cabbage or Dinosaur Kale in its native Italy, where it is prized for soups and stews. Tall plants have leaves up to two feet long.

Follow the dry bean package directions and cook the beans. Sauté the onion in the e.v.o.o. Add the tomatoes, the Tuscan black cabbage, the leek, the carrots, the potatoes, etc. and add water up to half the depth of the vegetable mixture.

When everything is cooked, take 2/3 of the cooked beans and run them through a food mill, blender or processor until smooth and thick. Add this to the cooked vegetables along with the rest of the cooked beans. The soup should have a thick consistency. You can add more water if it seems too thick.

Cook for another 15 minutes.

Slice the bread into 1/4 inch slices and arrange them in the bottom of a large pot or Dutch oven. Add some of the cooked soup. Alternate layers of bread and soup until you have used up all the soup. Let this rest covered for at least 12 hours.

After the ribollita has rested, pour additional e.v.o.o. to taste (anywhere from 2 T to 1/2 cup). Bring the soup to a slow boil and cook for at least another 1/2 hour. Serve hot.
Buon appetito!