Literally meaning ‘boiled again’ in Italian, ribollita is a soup that epitomises Tuscany’s classic peasant culinary tradition - or, cucina povera. Traditionally, it was made on a Friday with the remains of stale bread and leftover vegetable scraps to be reheated and eaten several days in a row, getting more delicious and flavourful each day.
By definition, a ribollita recipe necessitates three main ingredients: cavolo nero (Tuscan kale), savoy cabbage, and cannellini beans. It’s not uncommon to find other vegetables in this soup as everyone has their take on it; however, being a hearty dish, and one that is often eaten during the colder months, ribollita can also be fleshed out to include tomatoes, celery, carrots, onion, leeks, and potatoes. Where in many recipes you may find parmesan rinds to give a cheesy hint, we’ve used a sprinkling of nutritional yeast to give that cheesy flavour.
How to make Vegan Ribollita Toscana
Preparation time: 1 hour 15 mins
Serves 4-6
Calories per serving: 391
Utensils
Large oven proof pot with a lid
Ingredients
For the Ribollita:
- 400g cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
- 2 small onions, finely chopped
- 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
- 2 carrots, finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed whole
- 4-5 leaves cavolo nero, stems removed and torn into 4-5cm
- 1/3 savoy cabbage, roughly chopped
- 400g peeled tomatoes, diced
- 250g stale bread, torn into rough 2-3cm chunks
- 1 tsp chilli flakes
- 800ml-1litre vegetable stock
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 1 sprig thyme
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper
To Serve (optional):
- Grated vegan cheese
- Chilli oil
Method
- Preheat the oven to 220 degrees, ensuring there is room for the pot to fit onto the middle shelf.
- In a large, oven-proof pot (cast iron pots such as dutch ovens are great for this) pour 2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin oil over a medium heat.
- Add in the onion and fry for a couple of minutes before adding in the carrot, celery, garlic and chilli, the herbs and a good pinch of salt, be sure to keep the herbs whole as we will remove them later on. Fry for further 8-10 minutes until softened.
- Add in the tomatoes, stir for 2 minutes.
- Remove the bay, rosemary and thyme sprigs. Then, add in the kale and cabbage leaves, stir well. Next add in the vegetable stock, cannellini beans, nutritional yeast and bring to boil.
- Once bubbling, stir in one third of the bread chunks and season well with salt and pepper, simmer for 3-4 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and add the remaining chunks of break resting on the top of the ribollita, drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil. Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven to bake for 10-15 minutes or until thick, bubbling and the bread has gained a delicious golden colour.
- Carefully ladle into bowls, sprinkle the vegan cheese and a drizzle of chilli oil, if using, and serve. Buon appetito!
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