Ribollita

(Yes, I got the BF to eat beans… are you amazed?  I am- I popped open the can and ate a cannelini bean and thought it tasted good; sweet, even, so I grabbed another one and fed it to the BF, who just looked at it, ate it, and was like, it’s okay.  So I served this and he actually… ate it… and liked it!!!  I am wearing him down, I am.  I am delighted to say that since starting this food blog with its many picky eater restrictions, BF has gotten to the point where nearly anything, I can pop it in front of him and he follows the “Just try it and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it, but just try it before you tell me you really just don’t like it.” rule.  I love it!)

I’d seen this recipe on Giada’s Everyday Italian a while back and loved the whole idea of “spring cleaning” your fridge by making something yummy.  I also was keen because she’d mentioned using up the rind of a Parmesan cheese, which normally is inedible, and I just love that it’s not being just tossed in the bin as garbage. 

I’d thought the ribollita might turn out really thick, stick to your ribs and hearty, but though it was soothing, satisfying and very filling, it wasn’t overly so, still somehow managing to be bright and delicious. 

Below, my modifications:

Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling on bread
1 medium onion, diced
3 thin carrots, chopped
4 slices bacon, chopped 
3 cloves garlic, 2 minced and 1 whole (note: I really like garlic, and my garlic is very mild)
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 package chopped frozen spinach
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained (I didn’t rinse mine because it didn’t occur to me)
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
3 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 piece Parmesan rind 
1 ciabatta roll
Grated Parmesan, for serving

Heat bacon over low heat in large pot while you chop the ingredients.  I started with the carrots, since those take the longest to cook, and added them as I went.  Then the onion, garlic, salt and pepper, easy on the salt since bacon is pretty salty as it is, with a lot of good turns of pepper.  After everything has softened up considerably (about 10 minutes, let’s say), and you’ve been stirring it a bit, add the tomato paste and stir until it’s incorporated nicely and kind of coating everything.  Then add the diced tomatoes- I thought I bought the kind I had last time, but apparently those were petite diced and these were regular chopped so a bit bigger than last time- and “deglaze” the pan to get all the good browned bits.  After that’s come up to a bubble, add the stock, seasoning, bay leaf, then the spinach and stir until that’s broken up and incorporated a bit.  Once that’s done, add the beans and the Parmesan rind and let simmer for a while (I let mine simmer for about an hour, stirring it every 5-10 minutes).  Bits of the rind would fall off and get incorporated, which made it cheesy delicious later.

In the meantime, toast up the ciabatta with drizzles of olive oil.  Once toasted up, take the whole garlic clove and rub the cut side all over the cut side of the ciabatta to release the delicious garlic flavor all over the bread, yum yum.  Place a slice of bread in the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup over it, grate some Parmesan then serve with big spoons.  Delicious.  The bread didn’t even sog up right away- the crust on the ciabatta really stayed chewy, we were using the side of our spoons to sort of press through it, while the bread part itself soaked up the soup beautifully.  (I’d bought parbaked FreshDirect- who else?- ciabatta rolls; perhaps next time I’ll try their rosemary ciabatta… yum!) 

BF really was impressed with this dish- he kept saying how flavorful everything was and how the taste permeated every last drop of the soup.  My only wish is that I had a nicer stew bowl to serve it in, haha.  And perhaps next time I’ll drain a little bit of the bacon fat off first because the top of this turned out a bit greasy for me, though BF didn’t complain at all. 

As always, enjoy and happy eating!!!