Ribollita. Italian soup. A recipe from CNN's Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy Episodes.

We love Italian food and have tried quite a bunch of them but when I watched the CNN show I discovered quite some italian dishes that we had never had so here I’m sharing what we tried. They’re absolutely delicious and super simple to make.

Ribollita tastes like minestone but more flavourful. I made a couple of twists from the recipe I found. I added chopped kielbasa to it to enhance the flavor further (and my family isn’t quite into vegetarian food) and I served the sourdough bread, toasted on the side for dipping, instead of cooking them in the soup at the end.

It’s really good, especially on a freezing snowy day!

Here are the ingredients:

Onion, 1, large, chopped
Carrots, baby or large, ½ lbs, chopped
Celery, 2-3 stalks, chopped
Garlic, 3 cloves, minced
Chili Flakes, ⅛ tsp
Tomato Paste, 1 tbsp
Kale, chopped, 3-4 oz
Diced Tomato, 14.5 oz
Water, 4 cup
Thyme, 4 fresh springs
Bay leaf, 1
Parmesan rind, 1 (if you can’t find the rind, just cut out the circular edge of a block will do also)
Cannellini Beans, 15.5 oz
Kelballsa, as much as you like, chopped, optional
Sourdough bread, thick slices, toasted, to serve with
Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, grated, to serve with


Just several steps to make it:

1. Add the chopped onion, celery, carrot together with minced garlic and chili flakes into an oiled pot. Stir fry them till they’re softened, then season them with salt & pepper.
2. Add tomato paste, mix them well.
3. Then add kale, stir fry till they’re softened.
4. Then pour in the diced tomato, water, herbs and parmesan rind, bring it to a boil.
5. Once the soup boils, add ¾ of the cannellini beans to the pot, then mesh the rest before adding them. Let it simmer for 25 minutes.
6. You’re done after 25 minutes of simmering. If you’re adding Kielbasa, add them 5-10 minutes before it’s done.
Serve it with toasted thick sourdough bread slices and top it with some grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Season it further with salt and pepper if you like.

#italiancooking