Jes Reynolds…Your Fitness Coach

Actually, the name of this soup is Ribollita.  The one I’m cooking probably isn’t worthy of the title since I got the recipe from a friend, written on a piece of scrap paper from her checkbook.  I decided I could at minimum call it vegetable soup, adding the dirty part based on the fact that out of laziness I did NOT wash any of the vegetables before cooking them.  I mean, they’re going to be boiled right?

I learned a little about the real Ribollita from Wikipedia:

Ribollita is a Tuscan soup whose name literally means “reboiled”. Like most Tuscan cuisine, the soup has peasant origins. It was originally made by reheating (ie. reboiling) the leftover minestrone or vegetable soup from the previous day.

There are many variations but the main ingredients usually includes, cannellini beans and inexpensive vegetables such as carrots, tomatoes, celery kale and onion.

The dirty version turned out to be delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic (I used 3)
• 1 bunch of celery
• 1 bunch of carrots
• 1 bunch of kale (I used California Red Kale)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 large can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups chicken broth (I used 4)
• 1 zucchini
• 1 can white beans
• 1 bag baby spinach (not sure that is included in regular recipe)

I just chopped everything up as I went through the directions which made it easy to multi-task with walking the dog, getting the mail, and putting clothes in the dryer.

1. Saute onion with enough olive oil to coat bottom of large soup making pan for approx 5 mins.
2. Add garlic, celery, and carrots and cook until soft.  Approx 10 mins.
3. Add zucchini & red pepper, cook until soft.
4. Add beans, tomatoes, chicken broth, kale, and spinach.  Cook until wilty.  I also used a pinch of salt and a pinch of ground pepper during the final step.

It turns out to be really delicious!  You can thank Chelsea for being inspired by Cafe Zola, finding the recipe, and then giving it to me to pass it on to you!