On a cold day, there’s nothing better than a hot bowl of soup.  Thick with a variety of colourful vegetables and, ribollita is just the sort of soup I had in mind when the weather took a chilly turn last week.

Ribollita is a traditional (peasant) Tuscan soup whose name translates as ‘reboiled’.  As it sits on the stove for a few days, being reheated and dipped into whenever one is hungry, it develops amazing flavour.  True Tuscan ribollita goes through several stages: the soupy first stage, a starchier second stage where the soup is layered with some stale bread and then it turns into almost a hash.  This is documented beautifully over at Hedonia, complete with gorgeous photographs, for the curious amongst you.

As much as I love a good culinary adventure, I just wanted soup.  No, I wanted very good soup, so I elected to follow Skye Gyngell’s recipe which replaces the bread element of the soup with farro.  Except that I couldn’t find farro, even after making a special trip to Waitrose—no hardship, I got to pick up some of their new cupcakes—so I substituted another ancient grain: spelt.  And as I had a bag of dried borlotti beans kicking around the larder, I used those instead of buying a bag of cannellini beans.  Channelling my inner peasant-girl!

Incidentally, if you have difficulty cooking dried beans, then soak them for up to 24 hours, rather than just overnight.  I know, I know… forward planning is required, but if your beans are a bit on the elderly side (alas the expiry date on the package is next to useless where pulses are concerned) then they’ll need an extra-long soak to enable them to cook all the way through.  I have not-so-fond memories of spending hours boiling chickpeas, only for them to remain horribly hard and mealy in the centre.  After trying the bicarb trick, the flour-paste trick, and cooking them in bottled water (in case my tap water was too hard) I soaked the beans for a full 24 hours and, voila!  Perfectly cooked chickpeas.

But back to the soup.  Straight after cooking had finished it was good.  After sitting for a few hours and being snacked on, it was great.  Reheated the next afternoon for lunch it was absolutely divine.  Intensely savoury, rich, filling and just bloody gorgeous, really.  It still tasted fresh and wholesome, which is quite remarkable after such a long cooking time.

It vastly amuses me that an old and thrifty Tuscan peasant soup is now so fashionable.  But I guess bold flavours will never go out of fashion, and now that I’ve discovered it, I’d never want to be without this soup…

Ribollita

Serves 6-8
Source: Adapated from My Favourite Ingredients by Skye Gyngell

• 400g dried borlotti beans, soaked overnight
• about 3 litres water
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 1 dried red chilli, crumbled
• sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 celery sticks, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 small garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• small bunch of sage
• 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 150g pearl spelt, well rinsed under cold water
• 2 400g-tins chopped plum tomatoes
• bunch of cavolo nero, thick stalks removed, roughly chopped
• extra-virgin olive oil, preferably Tuscan to serve

Drain the beans and place them in a large heavy-based saucepan.  Pour over about 2 litres of water, to cover generously, bring to a boil and simmer over a low heat until the beans are tender.  About 1 1/2 hours.  Drain and set aside.

Heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a separate pan (large enough to hold all the soup when finished)  over a low heat.  Add the onions, dried chilli and a pinch of salt.  Cover and sweat for about 10 minutes until onion is translucent.

Add the celery, carrots, garlic, sage and potatoes.  Saute for a couple of minutes then add the canned tomatoes.  Cover and simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes.

Stir in the cooked beans and add the remaining water to create a thick broth for the vegetables to cook in.  Add the pearl spelt and chopped cavolo nero, give it all a good stir.  Cover and cook for a further hour until the vegetables are really soft.  Season well and leave to cool completely.  Let the ribollita stand for a couple of hours—this will improve the flavour considerably.

To serve, reheat the soup.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary, then drizzle generously with extra-virgin olive oil.  Turn up the heat to emulsify, then serve in deep bowls.