Feeding the 5000: Ribollita, a traditional Tuscan soup made with leftovers
Ribollita is a traditional and robust Italian dish made from leftover soup, vegetables and stale bread. It is a dish that is perhaps a perfect example of my ethos as a chef
This soup is incredibly versatile you can adapt the ingredients to the season and to whatever vegetables you have in your fridge.
recipe for 10
1 Pig Spleen 250g Dried canellini beans or chick peas (soaked overnight and cooked for 1 hour) or 500g of cooked ½ x Heads of celery, diced 1 Bunch of parsley, roughly chopped 500g Carrots, diced 500g Red onions, diced 500g Tinned plum tomatoes or tomato sauce, chopped 5 Cloves of garlic, roughly chopped 1 x Old loaves of ciabatta or white sourdough, with the crusts removed and saved for croutons or crumbs 1250g Kale ideally or cabbage, chard or broccoli Olive oil to taste Other additions could be beetroot, beans, leeks, beans
Adding the kale and cabbage to the soup
First put your spleen into a small pot that has a lid and cover with stock veg and water. simmer gently for 1 ½ hours till soft. Remove from the pan and leave to cool then slice.
Saute the slices of spleen, celery, parsley, carrots and onions in a pan for 15 minutes on a low heat. Season with a little salt and add the garlic. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 15 minutes. Remove the stalks from the kale or chard slice them finely and add them to the vegetables. Layer the remaining leaves together and roll them to make a cigar, then shred them with a large cooks knife and add them to the pot. Next add the beans and a little water, keeping a thick consistency. Simmer for a further 15 minutes. Now tear the bread into clumps and add to the soup, season with fresh olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Leave for a few minutes for the bread to absorb all the flavours and soften.
The soup should be very thick, robust and flavourful. The bread makes this dish hearty and good for winter.
[...] toasts Day 3 – Devilled kidneys on toast Day 4 – Pigs Liver Bruschetta Day 5 – Ribollita, a traditional Tuscan soup made with leftovers Day 6 – Panzanella, Tomato salad with sourdough croutons Day 7 – Brain [...]
Pingback by Feeding the 5000: The Life of a Loaf - Tom Hunt — November 19, 2011 @ 4:05 pm
[...] Chef Tom Hunt cooked at last week’s Feeding the 5K. In his neat blog, he discusses Ribollita, a traditional Tuscan leftover soup, and pens a culinary call-to-arms on using old bread in The Life of a [...]
Pingback by Post-Turkey-Day Buffet — November 25, 2011 @ 1:55 pm
Why does it keep saying spleen in the recipe? Trotter is a pig foot.
Comment by jake — November 29, 2011 @ 1:29 am
This one has apples and curry- it is fuolubas, and perfect for the fall! I also like it topped with a few very special croutons, I added that recipe too! 1/4 cup butter1 clove garlic1 onion1 leek1 large apple, peeled and chopped1 tbsp curry powder2 cups chopped fresh pumpkin4 cups stock (1 use chicken stock)1 cup whipping creamsalt and pepperapple wedgesMelt butter in saucepan. Saute garlic, onion, leek and apple. Stir incurry powder and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add pumpkin andstock. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer untilveggies are tender. Puree all in blender or food processor. Return tosaucepan and stir in all of cream but 2 tablespoons. Season with salt andpepper. When serving garnish with fresh apple wedges, and pour a bit ofcream over top. Looks pretty! Serves 6-8.Croutons2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter24 1/4-inch-thick baguette bread slices1 cup grated Gruye8re cheese1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme1 teaspoon minced fresh sage For croutons:Preheat broiler. Butter 1 side of each bread slice. Arrange bread, buttered side up, on baking sheet. Broil until golden, about 1 minute. Turn over. Sprinkle cheese, then thyme and sage over. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil until cheese melts, about 1 minute. Ladle soup into bowls. Top each with croutons and serve
Comment by Wejdee — April 21, 2012 @ 7:48 pm
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Comment by kutiaqux — April 22, 2012 @ 12:09 am