Ribollita

Ribollita means “reboiled” in Italian, but in Tuscany it’s the name of a bean and cabbage soup thickened with stale bread. Recipes vary, and most call for potatoes, but I like to use celery root (aka celeriac) instead. It adds a nice flavor and isn’t quite as starchy as potato. A healthy drizzle of your very best olive oil is essential. Pour it on at the table so the hot soup will release the fruity aroma of the oil.

Cannellini beans are traditional in Tuscany, but I like to make this with borlotti beans (also called cranberry beans). If you can’t find them, use any white bean. Long soaking will give you beans that are tender but don’t fall apart, so start by putting a cup or so of dried beans in water to cover and leaving them for at least a day.

At the same time you start soaking the beans, lay out at least a half dozen slices of good bread to dry. I’ll often put them on a baking sheet and leave them in my gas oven so the heat from the pilot dries the bread completely. But they’ll dry out on the counter. (If you forget, just toast the bread.)

Cook the beans in enough water to cover until they’re tender. In a separate pan, saute a chopped onion, several stems of chopped flat-leaf parsley, a couple of diced celery ribs, and a few finely chopped cloves in garlic in olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add this soffrito to the beans, along with 2 carrots, halved lengthwise and sliced into quarter-inch pieces.

Peel a softball-sized celery root by cutting away the gnarly outer layer. Cut it into quarter-inch cubes and add to soup. Coarsely chop a can of Italian tomatoes (or use the already-chopped kind) and toss that into the pot. Add a couple of cups of broth...chicken or vegetable.

The last ingredient might be hard to find. Tuscans insist that you can’t really make ribollita without cavolo nero or black cabbage. You can substitute savoy cabbage, but look for the dark green curly leaves of lacinato kale (sometimes called dinosaur kale). Cut out the thicker stems and thinly slice the kale before adding to the soup. Add salt to taste and let the pot simmer for an hour or so.

For authentic ribollita, the soup should really be at least a day old, so you can eat some as regular soup the first night. To make the ribollito, cut the dried bread into cubes and stir it into the soup (which you’ve transferred into a wider, shallower pot that the stock pot you originally made the soup in).

Heat gently, stirring to prevent the bottom from sticking and burning. You should have a fairly thick mixture that’s not really very soup-like. Serve in wide bowls with a generous splash of assertively sharp extra virgin olive oil.