On Ribollita

Bread in soup = good stuff.

Welcome to the Friday Recipe post for paid subscribers! This recipe for ribollita is kind of all I want to eat right now. On Tuesday, all subscribers will receive a post about the foods I buy when I don’t feel like cooking. As always, check out my past posts here and learn more about my day job here. Thanks for reading!

It’s officially soup season. And bread season. And beans season! Leaning heavily on roasted potatoes, squashes, and the ever-classic celery and carrots combo, I’ve hit the fall classics hard this week.

I’ve also been back on my loaf of bread a week routine. Though there was a time where I was baking it myself (!), I am not that girl anymore, so I instead patronize my beautiful local bakeries. The closest one to my home happens to be an award-winning, women-owned gem: Hewn. This morning as I went to buy my weekly loaf, I thought about how I buy my bread in anticipation of eating it fresh, but also letting it go just a it past its prime and then reimagining it in all sorts of fun ways, like the soup recipe below or this pumpkin pudding.

Ribollita is one of those magical Italian recipes that takes a humble selection of ingredients and makes them bewitchingly more powerful as a whole. From humble beginnings—needing to make the most of these ingredients to sustain everyday life—ribollita is a comforting dish that’s as substantial as it is easy to make.

Some tips for ribollita:

• This is a great way to use up bread that’s a bit stale, but if you only have fresh, perfect bread, you can still make this soup. Just toast the bread lightly in the oven while you’re prepping the other ingredients

• This is not a soup that stays soupy after a night in the fridge: the bread soaks up most of the liquid. Instead of warming it back up as a soup, spread the mixture on a greased and lined sheet tray and broil until dehydrated and toasted on top.

• For extra flavor, grate the Parmesan cheese, then throw the rind into the broth to lightly simmer.

Need a sweet thing for dessert? Check out this comfort cake from

Emily

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Ribollita (Tuscan Bread Soup)

Another picture that predates my use of actual lights or, apparently, garnishes.