Ribollita: Tuscan bread and tomato stew
Gently sweat the onions, celery, and carrots on a low heat in the olive oil with the rosemary, bay, sage, and thyme until the vegetables are soft. This should take about 15-20 minutes.
Empty the cans of plum tomatoes using a sieve with a bowl underneath it to try and separate as much as the juice from the tomatoes as possible, you can squeeze the tomatoes slightly to help this happen.
Add the tomatoes to the pan with the vegetables in it, and reserve the tomato juice. Season everything in the pan salt and pepper and let the tomatoes cook down for a few minutes.
Ribollita: Tuscan bread and tomato stew
Next, add the tomato juice to the vegetable stock and add that to the plan along with the potatoes, sourdough bread, cavolo nero and cannellini beans. Add the lid and let everything simmer for about half an hour. When the potatoes are soft, the ribollita is ready. Season everything and set to the side.
Ribollita will taste even better when it's reheated the following day so if you can, make a day in advance and reheat thoroughly before eating. Ribollita literally means re-boiled in Italian, so it's all in the name.
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 white onion, diced
2 sticks of celery, diced
4 cloves of garlic, diced,
2-3 carrots, diced
2 bay leaves
1 sprig of rosemary
1 handful of fresh thyme
5 leaves of sage
2 cans of plum tomatoes
1 can of cannellini beans
175g stale sourdough bread, chopped into chunks
100g cavolo nero/kale, roughly chopped
400ml vegetable stock
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
