'Beaneaters & Bread Soup' - Ribollita

Italian again, hmm? Well, it wasn’t meant to be. I saw ‘Beaneaters’ on the spine, and pulled it off the shelf, thinking it must be a compendium of delicious pulse-based recipes from around the world. That would basically be my dream book, appealing to both my tightness, and love of stodge. And, of course, my admiration for the way the bean so cleverly absorbs the flavours of the spices/meats/veg with which you cook it.

When I realised that this was, in fact, a collection of Tuscan recipes, I decided that to put it back would be against the spirit of this blog. And Tuscans do (obviously) eat a lot of beans. Though the recipe I most wanted to make was for Octopus with Potatoes. This book goes into frankly staggering detail about Tuscans and Tuscany, with pages on individual chestnut growers, winemakers, and farmers. It’s pretty interesting, if a little too Chianti-struck. And  the food looks goooood. My heart, along with ¼ of my DNA, will always belong to Southern Italy, but there is a lot to be said for hare ragu.

Octopus and Potatoes was out due to unreliability of octopus supply (though my local Morrison;s usually provides), and anyway, I needed something that all of us would eat on a Sunday lunch. Oh, and of course, it really should have beans in it. The mellifluous sounding (but it just means ‘reboiled’, as in ‘reheated’) ‘Ribollita’ appears in lots of Italian recipe books, and appeals to the belief that the paysan can make a truly delicious meal out of the meanest, cheapest ingredients – plus top quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil of course.

I didn’t have any leafy green veg so I skipped these – but would never recommend not putting leafy green veg in anything if you have the chance. And I didn’t have enough dried beans, so I used 100 g of dried cannellini, soaked overnight, and a tin of them too. It blipped away on the stove for its allotted time, both times, with very little liquid, looking blah and tasting the same. And yet. Dished up, olive oil and parmesan on top, salt…it was lovely. Soft, but not bland. Comforting but not unhealthy.

100g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight, and then simmered for about 45mins til just soft (with the sage and peppercorns below)

1 tin of cannellini beans (or you could use 3 tins, or 300g dried)

Lots of nice extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves

5 sage leaves…or you know, however many you like

10 peppercorns…ditto

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, sliced thickly

1 potato, peeled and chopped chunkily

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

As much stale-ish, foreign-ish bread as you’ve got, within reason

Ideally some leafy veg like cavolo nero, kale, chard, spinach

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil, and then add in the root veg, Fry until the veg is releasing its flavour.

Puree the dried beans with a tablespoon on their boiling water.

Add this, along with the tinned beans, and tomatoes, to the pot.

Bring to the boil, and then add the green veg, and the bread. If it looks really dry, add some water, but it’s not meant to be liquid.

Let it simmer very low on the stove, for about an hour. Turn off, and leave overnight.

The next day, turn the oven on to 180 degrees, and put the pot in, covered. Warn through for half an hour, and then another 15 minutes with the lid off – ideally, this will make the bread at the top form a lovely crust. Didn’t work for me, but you never know.

Serve with extra olive oil on top, and a good grating of Parmesan. Obviously season too.