Ribollita
by Mitchel Weber of Sagra Food & Wine in La Crosse, WI
Yields enough for you, plus your closest friends!
BEAN POT:
Yields about 6 cups cooked beans, plus cooking liquid
1 # Meadowlark Mill Cranberry Beans
1 ea Medium Yellow Onion, halved
1 ea Head of Garlic
1 ea Large Sprig Rosemary
2 ea Dried Chili Pepper….optional
FOR THE STEW:
2 Tbl Olive Oil
4 Oz Diced Pancetta…optional
2 C Small Dice Yellow Onion
1 C Small Dice Carrot
1 C Small Dice Celery
.5 C Crushed Garlic Cloves
1 tsp Kosher Salt
28 Oz Can Whole Peeled or Crushed Tomatoes
6 C Chicken Stock…Vegetable Stock if you prefer
6 C Cooked Cranberry Beans
1 # Lacinato Kale, Stemmed and Chopped
1/2 Madison Sourdough Bâtard or Crusty Bread of Choice; torn into large croutons, toasted to your liking and set aside.
2 Tbl Butter
TO FINISH:
At the restaurant we say “Quanto Basta” or literally: as much as needed.
Use the following ingredients to suit your taste:
Q.B. Salt & Pepper
Q.B. Lemon
Q.B. Olive Oil
Q.B. Aleppo Pepper or Red Chili Flake
Q.B. Sarvecchio or Parmesan of Choice
INSTRUCTIONS
For the Bean Pot:
The first step in making a good pot of beans is to simply lay them onto a baking sheet and comb through them little by little. Remove any foreign objects before placing the beans into a large enough container to soak; being sure to cover with a few inches of water. The beans may be left to soak overnight on the countertop - anywhere from 6 to 12 hours. After the soaking period, the beans may have expanded in size a bit.
At this point, strain the beans and place into a pot large enough to hold them plus enough water to cover by two inches. Bring the beans and the water to a rolling boil for ten minutes before reducing the heat to low. It would be at this time that I would add any aromatic herbs, alliums or dried chili if using. Cook the pot slow and low, adding water as needed to ensure the beans are always covered with liquid during the cooking process.
Now that the beans are on their way, we must check them every once in a while to see where they sit in their journey to delicious. Pick a few from the pot and gently squeeze to see if they are hard or soft; if soft, asses how soft by tasting one. We are not looking for al dente; we are looking for plump and tender. This may take anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes or more, so the assessments along the way are imperative. Once our beans have reached plump and tender, they should be salted aggressively before taking off the heat to cool. As the beans cool the cooking will carry over a touch and they will continue to absorb the now salted cooking liquid. Again, check that the beans are covered by enough liquid so that they do not surface, dry and split while cooling.
For the Ribollita:
Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium flame and, if using, render the pancetta until slightly crisp. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and season with the salt. Reduce the heat to medium low and sweat the vegetables slowly to allow them to melt together. If needed, add a touch of water, white wine or stock to prevent the vegetables from gaining too much color during this process.
Once the vegetables are where you’d like them, add the crushed tomatoes if using, or hand crush a can of whole peeled tomatoes right into the pot. Raise the temperature to medium high and cook the tomatoes and soup base until the liquid from the tomatoes has slightly reduced.
At this point add the chicken or vegetable stock followed by half of the beans and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes or until the beans are warm and the stock has slightly reduced. Using a stick blender, pulse the mixture little by little until you have achieved something of a thickened stew. Alternately, transfer a third of the soup to a blender and carefully blend until thick before returning to the pot.
Add the kale and simmer until soft along with the remainder of the beans until warmed through. Finish the stew by mounting in the butter and adjusting the salt and pepper as needed. If the stew is too thick, thin out with extra stock or even better…leftover bean cooking liquid!
To serve, place the croutons into a soup bowl and ladle over the ribollita. Finish each bowl by seasoning with a squeeze of lemon; a drizzle of olive oil; a pinch of chili flake; and a generous grating of parmesan.
FROM CHEF MITCHEL -
I think we all love this time of year so much because it provides an excuse to reach for the more comforting things in life; recipes that really stick to you in the middle of a cold stretch. This example of the classic Tuscan ribollita is just that. Delicious the day of and even better after allowing the flavors to meld in the refrigerator for a few nights. Definitely a recipe worth coming back to time and time again. As for many Italian classics, this stew was conceived out of pure necessity, utilizing leftovers on hand as to not waste a thing!
Though there are many wonderful ingredients in this pot, the standout for me is without doubt the cranberry beans from Meadowlark Organics. In fact, this recipe gives me an excuse to put on an even larger pot of beans a few days prior to making the ribollita so that I can enjoy them on their own or just have them in my refrigerator to use as I please. As Meadowlark Organics puts it, “We grew Cranberry beans interplanted with grain sorghum, inspired by the Indigenous practice of planting "the three sisters," providing a living trellis for the beans. While Cranberry beans are technically a bush style bean, they do appreciate the extra support during the growing season. They benefit even more at harvest time, when the beans have dried down and use the standing sorghum plants to stay upright”. Once cured, the cranberry beans take on a beautiful tanned hue with fantastic flecks of cranberry stained striation - making them practically irresistible.
As mentioned, I love to put a pot of beans on the stovetop and run them slow and low to permeate my house with a comforting aroma, but I know to a certain generation cooking beans may be a bit intimidating. Why would you go through all of that effort to cook something that you could easily just purchase pre-made in a can? The answer being you are a romantic and/or you enjoy absorbing new skills of your nonna’s generation. Dried beans can be intimidating if you’ve never had the time or patience to cook them yourself. You may be asking yourself, "Can I cook them right from the bag?…Do I soak them?….for how long do I soak them?…How do I know they are done and when do I season them?”. We are going to demystify the bean cooking process for you in hopes that you might go out of your way at the market this week to reach for that little humble bag of dried beans.
I’m sure we can all agree that beans are small and come from a farm…which is the case for many other things, like pebbles and clumps of dried dirt. The first step in making a good pot of beans is to simply lay them onto a baking sheet and comb through them little by little. Remove any foreign objects before placing the beans into a large enough container to soak; being sure to cover with a few inches of water. The beans may be left to soak overnight on the countertop - anywhere from 6 to 12 hours. After the soaking period, the beans may have expanded in size a bit. At this point, strain the beans and place into a pot large enough to hold them plus enough water to cover by two inches. Bring the beans and the water to a rolling boil for ten minutes before reducing the heat to low. It would be at this time that I would add any aromatic herbs, alliums or dried chili if using. Cook the pot slow and low, adding water as needed to ensure the beans are always covered with liquid during the cooking process. Now that the beans are on their way, we must check them every once in a while to see where they sit in their journey to delicious. Pick a few from the pot and gently squeeze to see if they are hard or soft; if soft, asses how soft by tasting one. We are not looking for al dente; we are looking for plump and tender. This may take anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes or more, so the assessments along the way are imperative. Once our beans have reached plump and tender, they should be salted aggressively before taking off the heat to cool. As the beans cool the cooking will carry over a touch and they will continue to absorb the now salted cooking liquid. Again, check that the beans are covered by enough liquid so that they do not surface, dry and split while cooling. Our chef’s kiss and final touch will be to add a more than generous amount of olive oil to the cooling pot. Now, how does the house smell?
My ribollita recipe is just one fantastic way to enjoy Meadowlark Organics cranberry beans. The beans themselves cook up to some of the creamiest I’ve ever had and we love to use them at the restaurant on toast, in salads and pastas, complimenting a secondi/entree, or simply dressed as a contorni.