During the winter season, there is nothing better than a nice bowl of soup to warm the body and heart. The area’s most traditional soups are made with vegetables and legumes.
Tuscan cuisine is also renown for its ‘Ribollita’ or ‘Slim Soup’ and ‘Cacciucco’ from Livorno. These dishes were created during times of poverty, since it was easy to find ingredients like vegetables, bits of meat and fish, stale bread and legumes. Often, these soups were made with leftovers. The ‘Minestra di ceci o fagioli’ (garbanzo or bean soup) was made using legumes that are well-loved for their nutritional properties. For a great bean soup, try frying up some garlic and rosemary in olive oil. Add a spoonful of tomato paste, diluted in a bit of warm water. Add cooked, mashed beans, left to soften in water overnight. Once the soup is almost cooked add in some pasta.
The famed bread-based soup called ‘Ribollita’ is made with the same ingredients, but the cooking style is different and the taste is also very distinct. Bread soup is a dish made with sautéed garlic, onion, celery and parsley, Tuscan black cabbage, cabbage, chard, tomato paste and potatoes chunks. Cooks would boil the soup, adding beans later. Artusi’s recipe calls for a bit of ham. Once the vegetables are cooked, the beans are added. Traditionally, the soup is poured over slices of stale bread and served. If any soup was left over it would be heated up in a frying pan, which gave rise to its name ‘ribollita’, or re-boiled.
Fonte: intoscana.it
