Ribollita

This lovely rustic Italian soup is inspired by two things: 1) mine and Brian's anniversary was on Sunday and I first had this soup while sitting in a cafe in Sienna, splitting a half litre of wine over lunch; and 2) Columbus Day was Monday.  Now, you can talk to me until you're blue in the face about what a terrible Italian Christopher Columbus was, about how he was kicked out of Italy and his travel to the New World was funded by Spanish, and how he wasn't the first European to set foot in the Americas, but I do not care. Where I come from Christoper Columbus is a hero. An Italian hero of whom all good Italians are very proud. As a good Italian, I took my honeymoon in Italy and just one year later am making this delicious soup to remember the fun of said honeymoon.

For this tasty treat, you'll need: about 2 ounces of pancetta, 2 garlic cloves, 2 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1 onion, 3 medium potatoes, 2 large ripe tomatoes, a bunch of kale, 2 cans of Great Northern (or cannellini) beans, 6 cups of broth, 2 sprigs of rosemary, a parmesan rind and some hot dried peppers.

First, dice the pancetta.  I shopped at the el-cheapo Kroger for my ingredients, so I couldn't get the giant pancetta chunk straight from the deli that I like to purchase.  This thinly sliced, pre-packaged pancetta did okay.  Kindly notice the adorable little white prep cup. It's from the Le Creuset outlet (my new favorite store) and it's made of silicon so it' squishy. Awesome. 

Next, mince the garlic and dice the onion, celery and carrots.  I had to peel my carrots because I couldn't get them to look clean therefore I assumed they were dirty. Peeling, obviously not necessary, especially if you like the taste of dirt.

Then, dice the potatoes.  You could probably get away with using just 2 potatoes since these three turned into more than I bargained for. But I ♥ potatoes.

Now, seed and dice the tomatoes.  Please do not judge the fact that these tomatoes are far from ripe. They were all that was available. How quickly garden tomato season has gone away.

Finally, shred the kale into roughly one inch strips.  If you've never cooked kale, the important step is to get the thick rib out of each leaf. That piece is not tasty. As with nearly all greens, this looks like a giant pile of roughage, but it cooks down nicely.

Now, for the beans. A truly good Italian would have used dry beans, let them soak overnight and followed all those steps for cooking dry beans. Or, if I were more like my Nonnie or my Auntie, I would have used the pressure cooker. I did neither of those things. I used canned beans like a true American.  Rinse and drain both cans of beans.  Using a food processor, pulse half of the beans into a paste. I seasoned the bean paste with some rosemary and salt and threw in a little bit of olive oil.  Reserve the other half of the beans.

Now, it's cook time. Heat a big stock pot over medium heat and throw in just a splash of olive oil.  Throw in the pancetta and cook until the fat has rendered and the pancetta pieces are a bit crispy, about 5-8 minutes.  Also, if you're adding any dried hot peppers, throw them in with the pancetta.

Next, add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic to the pot.  Cook these for 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

Throw in the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.

Then stir in  the tomatoes.

Now, add the beans.  First the bean paste (which looks terribly unappetizing) then the whole beans.

Dump in 6 cups of stock.  Yes, an entire 6 cups. This makes a lot of soup. Stir the whole thing up really well.

Okay, almost done with adding things. Drop in all the kale.  Stir the soup very well. You want to try to get the kale submerged in broth, but this is pretty impossible without adding more broth and making even more soup. Just do the best you can.

Lastly, toss in the rosemary sprigs and parmesan rind.  I left the rosemary whole since I knew it would fall apart during simmering. If you don't have any parmesan rind, don't worry, you just may need to season with more salt.

Increase the heat to bring the soup to a boil, then lower to a simmer.  Cover and simmer for 2 hours.  Yes, 2 hours. About an hour into simmering, give it a taste and throw in any seasoning it may need. I had to add a bit of salt, ground black pepper and red pepper flake.  This will smell delectable. Before serving, be sure to remove the rosemary sprigs. You can remove the parmesan rind, but I like to leave it in and have a parsmean surprise when eating the soup.

Serve with a hunk of hearty bread. If you want to go all out, rub the bread with a fresh clove of garlic and toast.  Feed this to your sister-in-law who just arrived from Chile via Charlotte and walked into your house asking if the soup was ready yet. Enjoy!