Tuscan bean soup recipe

This traditional Italian soup is known as ribollita, said Matt Tebbutt. It's the perfect way to warm up as the nights start to get colder – comfort food at its best.

Ingredients:

For the beans:

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• 200g dried broad beans, soaked overnight 
• 200g dried white beans, soaked overnight 
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped 
• 1 celery stick, chopped 
• 300g unsmoked pancetta with rind 
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

For the soup base:

• 2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 
• 1 onion, peeled and diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced 
• 2 celery sticks, diced 
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 
• 1 sprig rosemary 
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 potato, peeled and diced 
• ½ a turnip, peeled and diced 
• 500ml vegetable stock

To serve: 

• 1 head of cavolo nero, roughly chopped and blanched 
• 4 slices day-old sourdough bread 
• 50g parmesan, freshly grated

Method:

• Place the beans in a large casserole or saucepan with the onion, carrot, celery, pancetta, rosemary and garlic and cover with water. Cook over a gentle heat for 1½ to 2 hours, or until the beans are soft.
• Leave to cool in the cooking liquid. Sieve the beans into a bowl, reserving the cooking liquid, then pick out the pancetta and shred. Discard the cooked veg and herbs.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4.
• To make the soup base, heat the oil in a large ovenproof casserole and sweat the onion, carrot, celery and garlic for 10 minutes. Add the rosemary, bay leaves, potato and turnip to the casserole and fry for a couple of minutes.
• Tip the beans, pancetta and their cooking liquid into the casserole. Add enough of the vegetable stock to just cover the soup. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 1 hour. Top up with more stock if needed. Remove the casserole from the oven but leave the oven on.
• Pick out the herbs and purée half of the soup in a blender or food processor, then mix into the unblended half. Stir in the cavolo nero.
• Ladle a third of the soup into a large ovenproof dish and top with half of the bread. Ladle over another third of the soup, then the remaining bread. Ladle over the rest of the soup, sprinkle over the Parmesan and drizzle over a generous glug of olive oil. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until it forms a crust. 
• Serve in warmed soup bowls.

Taken from Matt Tebbutt’s Pub Food: 100 Favourites, Old and New, published by Quadrille at £26. Photography by Chris Terry. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £20.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.

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