David Chang’s Ribollita
“I used to make this Tuscan bread soup all the time while I was working for Marco Canora,” Chang says. “Marco’s one of the best chefs America has ever produced and someone I’ve looked up to since I first started cooking. ‘Ribollita’ means reboiled, and refers to how cooks used to make a big batch of this soup one day then boil it again the next day, and it’d be just as good — if not better.
It’s a dish of simple, affordable ingredients: Aromatics, cabbage, cavolo nero (black kale), cannellini beans, and a few herbs. You can definitely make this soup vegetarian, but I used chicken stock in the show, because I wanted to demonstrate how one chicken can give you three or four different meals. If you really want to know how to make this soup properly, you should ask Marco or buy his cookbook. All I’ll say is that the sofrito is super important. Cooking the aromatics and tomato paste slowly in lots of oil is key. Oh, and make sure you smash some of the beans into the soup to thicken it. Beyond that, it’s hard to really mess this up. Cook the cabbages until they’re tender. Pour it over toasted croutons. Finish with Parmesan cheese.”
Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for serving
- 3 cups diced onions
- 3 cups diced carrots
- 3 cups diced celery
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups chopped savoy cabbage
- 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 8 cups finely chopped black cabbage (aka dino kale)
- 3x 24 oz. pouches Brodo (we love it with Hearth but choose whatever you’d like)
- 5 cups cooked cannellini beans
- Thin toasted crostini or crusty sourdough bread
- Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- Fresh thyme leaves
Instructions:
- Heat a skim of oil, about 2 tablespoons, in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, and celery. Season with salt and stir to coat the vegetables with oil. Cover and sweat the vegetables (cook without coloring), stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften, about 10 minutes.
- Add the savoy cabbage. Mix well and cook, covered, until it begins to wilt, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste, taking care to distribute it evenly. Turn the heat to low and add the black cabbage. Mix well, cover the pot, and stew the vegetables until they are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the broth or water, raise the heat, and bring the soup to a boil.
- While the soup is cooking, puree 3 cups of the beans in a blender or food processor, adding a little water if necessary. Whisk the puree into the soup. Add the remaining 2 cups of beans and bring the soup back to a boil. Reduce the heat again and gently simmer, uncovered, until the flavors blend, about 30 minutes.
- Season the soup with salt and lots of pepper. At this point, the soup can be cooled and refrigerated or frozen. To serve, ladle hot soup into bowls. Top each serving with crostini or sourdough, Parmigiano, pepper, thyme leaves, and a drizzle of oil.
**This soup tastes even better when reheated!