Ribollita with Rosemary Croutons

Here's another oldie. We made this a couple of months ago. Ah, well.



My coworker brings me her old "FoodDay" inserts from The Oregonian when she's done with them, and that's where I found this recipe. It's actually a quartet of recipes: the end product is the ribollita (and no, I had no idea what a ribollita was before I made it), but you also get "Tuscan White Beans," "Spicy Garlic and Herb Oil," and "Rosemary Croutons" out of this article. I didn't make the oil - I like regular old extra-virgin just fine and didn't have the counter space.

The Matthew Card article (link above) describes ribollita as "a rib-sticking minestra, or thick stew, of white beans, vegetables, hearty kale and stale bread flavored with great lashings of garlic, pancetta and fruity olive oil." Hmmm... you had me at "stew." And then again at "kale." And a third time at "great lashings of garlic." Basically, I'm a sucker for everything in this dish.



Here's the recipe for the Tuscan White Beans. Of course, you could also just use white beans, but they were really flavorful made this way.

Ingredients
2 to 3 ounces pancetta, minced [I just used two strips of bacon from the freezer. Tasted great]
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced fine
1 large carrot, diced fine
½ large fennel bulb, cored and diced fine, or 1 stalk celery, diced fine [I used celery. As much as I want to, I just don't like the taste of fresh fennel].
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Pinch fennel seeds
Salt
1 pound Great Northern beans, sorted and soaked in water overnight
1 head garlic, top ⅛ cut off to expose cloves
1 bay leaf
6 cups chicken broth and/or water
Granulated sugar (if necessary)
Garnishes
Extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt
Grated Vella Monterey jack or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese[Carrina's note: or Parmesan from the green can]

Instructions
Combine pancetta and olive oil in a large Dutch oven set over medium-high heat and cook until pancetta has rendered its fat, 3 to 5 minutes. Add onion, carrot, fennel or celery, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds and large pinch salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown and sticking to bottom of pot, 12 to 15 minutes. Stir in beans, garlic head, bay leaf, and broth and/or water; bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, partially covered, until beans are soft and tender (adding additional liquid as necessary to cover), 1½ to 2 hours.



Remove garlic and bay leaf from pot. Discard bay leaf. When cool enough to handle, squeeze garlic cloves from papery skins, mash to paste with back of knife, and stir into beans. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and a pinch of sugar, if needed. Serve with desired garnishes.

And now come the rosemary croutons:
Ingredients
Half to three-quarters of a stale baguette or rustic loaf, cut into ¾-inch cubes (3 to 5 cups)
3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 sprig rosemary or sage
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Place bread in large bowl and toss cubes with enough water to make bread soft, moist and pliable, but not crumbly. Squeeze bread and drain excess water from bowl.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just shimmering. Reduce temperature to medium, add bread and rosemary sprig,

and cook, stirring infrequently, until bread cubes are lightly browned, 7 to 10 minutes (you may need to use spatula to scrape any stuck-on bits of bread free). Remove rosemary and season bread generously with salt and pepper.

And now, the ribollita!
Ingredients
Salt
1 large bunch lacinato kale, stemmed, rinsed and chopped coarsely
½ to ¾ cup diced canned tomatoes, drained
4 to 6 cups Tuscan White Beans (see accompanying recipe)
3 or more cups Rosemary Croutons (see accompanying recipe)
Garnishes
Spicy Garlic and Herb Oil (see accompanying recipe) or extra-virgin olive oil
Lemon wedges
Coarse salt
Crushed red pepper flakes
Grated dry Vella Monterey jack or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Instructions
Bring large pot of water to boil over high heat and season liberally with salt.

Add kale and cook until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and cool under running water. Squeeze dry and chop coarsely.
Heat tomatoes and beans in Dutch oven set over medium heat to slow simmer (add splash of broth or water if necessary to loosen consistency). Stir in greens and croutons to combine. Divide equally among bowls and drizzle liberally with olive oil or Spicy Garlic and Herb Oil, and serve with other desired garnishes.