What is ribollita?

Ribollita is one of those dishes that tells you its history in its name. The Treccani dictionary defines it as a Tuscan soup of cavolo nero and mashed beans, reheated with slices of bread, from the verb ribollire, to boil again. It is the second day of a soup, deliberately.

Where it comes from

Ribollita belongs to the Tuscan tradition of cooking well with very little, what Italians call cucina povera. According to Wikipedia's ribollita article, it was originally made by reheating leftover vegetable soup from the day before with stale bread, and the dish is first documented in 1910, though some trace the idea further back. The practical logic is clear: nothing, not even yesterday's bread, goes to waste.

What goes into it

Recipes vary from family to family, but the core is consistent. Tuscany's official tourism site, Visit Tuscany, lists:

• Cannellini beans, some left whole and some puréed to thicken the soup, plus their cooking water.
• Cavolo nero, the dark Tuscan kale, and Savoy cabbage.
• A soffritto base of onion, carrot and celery, with garlic (see what is a soffritto).
• Potato and a little tomato paste.
• Stale Tuscan bread, sliced thin.
• Olive oil, salt and pepper.

Other inexpensive vegetables appear in some versions, chard among them, as Wikipedia notes. What makes it ribollita rather than just a bean and vegetable soup is the bread and the reboiling.

How thick it should be

Thick. Visit Tuscany describes the soup becoming thick and dense when it is cooked again the next day, with the bread and puréed beans doing the thickening. A good ribollita holds its shape on a spoon and can almost be eaten with a fork. If it pours like minestrone, it isn't there yet.

Signs you've got it right:

• The bread has dissolved into the soup, leaving soft, silky strands rather than soggy chunks.
• The cavolo nero is completely tender and dark.
• The beans have broken down enough to make the whole thing creamy.
• Tipped from a ladle, it falls in a heavy mass rather than a stream.

The second boil is the point

Visit Tuscany notes that the dish is even better the day after cooking, and that is what the name promises. Make the soup, layer or stir in the bread, let it rest overnight, then reheat it slowly in a heavy pan, stirring and scraping so it doesn't catch. Wikipedia notes it is often baked in a clay pot, and an oven finish gives a lovely crust on top. It thickens further each time, so loosen it with a splash of water or bean liquid if it gets too stiff.

Serving

Serve it warm rather than piping hot, in shallow bowls, with a generous thread of peppery new-season olive oil on top and black pepper. Grated cheese is up to you; taste it first and decide.

How it differs from its neighbours

• Minestrone is a looser vegetable soup with pasta or rice; see good minestrone.
• Pasta e fagioli is beans with pasta cooked in the soup.
• Pappa al pomodoro is another bread soup, built on tomatoes instead of beans and greens.