Ribollita with kale is a hearty stew for any time of year. A caramelized tomato base and lots of crusty bread bakes up to perfection. Think minestrone soup but instead of noodles, bread, glorious bread!

Last week I made this amazing Italian stew. I was so excited because it was raining and dark, the perfect day for a soul warming stew. Then, the sun came out. It turned out to be 80 degrees.

WTH.

Mike and I were eating this steamy stew for dinner while the boys played in the water table outside. We were very sweaty. I did not plan this well.

Don’t worry though. The next day it was back down to 57 degrees and rainy. God bless leftover ribollita with kale!

I did get a lot of questions when I posted some behind the scenes cooking photos on facebook and Instagram. Have you ever had ribollita before? better yet, have you ever heard of it?

I only heard about it because David Chang mentioned it on social media. I am all about trying anything mister Ugly Delicious suggests.

My favorite soup is, hands down, minestrone soup. The tomato base with all the beans and greens and veggies. YES! My only issue with the minestrone is that sometimes I add way too many noodles and the stock gets all sucked up into the noodles.

Ribollita solves this issue because instead of mixing in noodles, you mix in big chunks of crusty bread. It turns into one big minestrone pot pie kinda thing. And, you don’t even have to make pie crust! Yay!

The soup starts out with a little bit of work. Sorry. You have to strain all the liquids out of a can of crushed tomatoes. This way, when you add just the tomato solids to the pan, they caramelize really nicely and add lots of flavor. 

It is worth the extra effort.

However, if you do not want to do the whole straining thing (cough, lazy), you can add 1/4 cup of tomato paste. That will caramelize and add lots of flavor too. Is it “traditional” ribollita? No. It gets the job done though.

I decided to sneak this last stew of the season in before it is face-meltingly hot. We still have a lot of rainy spring days ahead of us friends.

Ribollita for all!

Ribollita with Kale

Yield: 4-6 Servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

A hearty tomato-based soup loaded with carrots, celery, onion, white beans, kale, and lots of crusty bread. Think minestrone pot pie without the pie crust.

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Ingredients

• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 medium carrots, thinly sliced
• 2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 8 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bunches Tuscan kale or 3 cups common, curly leaf kale
• 1 Parmesan Rind
• 1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 4 cups water
• ½ loaf crusty country bread (about 10 oz.), ripped into bite-sized pieces
• 1, 14-oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• ¾ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium/high heat. Once the pot is hot, add the oil. Let the oil heat through for a minute. Add the carrots, onion, celery to the pot. Season with salt and stir to combine. Cook down the vegetables for about 8-10 minutes, until tender.
3. While the vegetables cook, place a fine mesh strainer inside a medium mixing bowl. Pour the contents of the can of crushed tomatoes to the strainer. Use a spoon to scrape and stir the tomatoes inside the strainer until most of the liquid has strained out and is in the bowl.
4. Mix in the garlic. Cook until fragrant.
5. Add the tomato solids in the strainer to the pot. Cook for 8-10 minutes, while stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes become deep red and start to caramelize.
6. Add the tomato liquid and water. Mix to combine and deglaze the caramelized tomato bits from the bottom of the pot.
7. Mix in the kale, beans, crushed red pepper, and the parmesan rind. Bring to a simmer.
8. Add about 1/2 the torn bread to the pot. Stir to combine.
9. Remove pot from heat. Press the remaining bread into the top of the stew. Drizzle olive oil on top of bread. Carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes until the bread on top is crusty and golden.
10. Let the stew sit for about 5 minutes before transferring to bowls. Top with more olive oil and some grated parmesan cheese.

Recipe from Bon Appetit.