A riff on ribollita, with parm crout energy!

Dinner in 30 minutes or so

Jul 03, 2023

Hi! Happy Monday! Hope you’ve gotten over the monday blues and are in a better space to conquer the rest of the week.

I made something quick, tasty and nourishing today for dinner in a jiffy and thought I’d share it if you’re ever out of ideas for a veggie-centric dinner and if you happen to have some bread lying around.

Meanwhile, I’m working on writing another post that I’m kinda on the fence about. It’ll be a primer on a small little series that aims to help you cook better by breaking down cooking so that you can cook with whatever you have and whatever you like. Because I’m not a professional chef/cook, the fear of writing about something that’s maybe already out there in the world is putting me off! What I plan on covering could be quite “duh” to those of you who already cook, which is why I’m apprehensive. But maybe it’ll help some of you who are a little afraid of cooking.

Aaaanyway. On to today’s brief post.

My family has a bit of a daily problem. Every time it hits 5-ish pm, “What’s for dinner?” starts hanging in the air. It’s a very dreaded question on days that my mum isn’t preparing anything and everyone else is working. We are lucky to live across four malls, but having lived in this house for more than 20 years, the options for food start to dwindle. And, as you know, the cost of eating out is really on the rise these days. I hate having to settle for something I don’t really want to eat, just for the sake of eating. And I hate not having plenty of greens in my meals or eating something that’s greasy/heavy. (Very privileged thoughts; I’m aware.)

While my family is okay with settling for beef bowls from sukiya or smashing some mcspicy’s, I’m not huge on those. I’m quite picky.

It doesn’t help that the weather has been horrid for the past few months and honestly, eating really becomes a chore because it’s just so hot and you feel icky and are already uncomfortable. Anything heavy is just going to weigh you down and make you feel even ickier and nobody wants to feel that way amirite. Singapore isn’t abound with options for salad, so you (or I) just have to make your own meals.

Enter, the ribollita!

If you don’t know what ribollita is, it’s an Italian vegetable soup with white beans and leftover bread thrown in towards the end of cooking to thicken and add heft. It has Tuscan origins but thanks to globalisation, we are very lucky to now be eating this in Singapore. Bless up.

It’s sort of a peasant meal, and it’s brilliant because a) it’s plant-based and we’re ALL for that; b) it’s really substantial and tasty for something that doesn’t require much; c) great if you have bread you need to finish up; d) putting food on the table for a family of four under $10-15 (assuming you have those little things like bay leaves and parmesan rinds stashed away) is ALWAYS A WIN; e) it gets done in NO TIME. Perfect for a weekday dinner when you don’t want to do much, if you ask me.

While what I’ve made isn’t a classic ribollita, it’s similar and plenty delish. I didn’t really want *just* bread soaked in soup (for a lack of texture), so I made some parmy croutons with about half a loaf of sourdough which we all added into our bowls to soak a little before eating. It gave a nice crunch and who doesn’t love toasty croutons, with parmy bits caramelised in all the right places?

A recipe-ish recipe, because I’m not here to tell you how to live your life

Basically.. I think this works with whatever you have and whatever you want to use. You don’t have to strictly follow what I used. If you’ve got a bunch of kale to use, throw that in! Zucchini? Why not. Cut it however you like. Pumpkin? Cube and throw that in!

It starts with a soffrito base, which is basically celery, onion and carrots. There are some strict ratios out there but I’m all for no rules when it comes to cooking for yourself. Don’t have enough celery? That’s ok. Have more and want to finish it up? Sure. Whatever you do, it’s going to be delicious if you adjust seasoning to taste and add your vegetables/herbs in at the right time!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED (for four light but just nice servings):

*Update: We got pretty hungry 4 hours later so 2 cans of beans might be better!

Vegetables for soffrito here do not need to be finely diced. I did probably a 0.5cm-ish dice, because I wanted to cook it down enough to extract sweetness but wanted to be biting into the vegetables too. Does that make sense?

2-3 tbsp olive oil for cooking + 2 tbsp EVOO for flavour
1 - 2 medium or small onions, diced. I used a red one and half a yellow one, because the other half was spoilt.
1 large or 2 small carrots, diced. I don’t peel carrots these days, just make sure they’re clean and not that old.
2 stalks celery, diced
2 bay leaves (A note on bay leaves: please stop buying the dried ones as they add zero flavour and you’ll be wondering what bay leaves even do to a dish. Buy a packet of fresh bay leaves - Cold Storage always stocks them - and chuck it in a ziploc bag and freeze, use as you please, and discover the beauty of bay leaves!)
1 large thyme sprig
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
Herbs de provence (optional, it’s what I like and have)
1 can whole tomatoes (if you only have diced, use that. you can use passata in a pinch.)
1 can cannellini beans (use 2 cans if you’re hungry)
1 parmesan rind, if you have. Leave out if you hate that parmy funk.
GRANULATED DASHI, a pinch, if you have - I’ve been loving this recently in amping up savouriness in a dish, without anyone noticing dashi’s in there. If not, use a stock cube if you need more flavour. I’d recommend vegetable stock here, but if you like/only have chicken, that’s ok too. Maybe start by adding just a little and then adjust to your liking. Chicken stock can detract from the vegetable flavour-forward dish that this is.
Any leafy vegetables, sliced! I used romaine as that’s what I had - they’re perfect when you throw them in and turn off the heat as they retain crunch and I love that, but if you prefer something else, it’s your call. Hardier vegetables like cabbage / kale require more cooking time and will flavour your soup differently. Adjust as you need.
Soft herbs like basil or parsley if you have them, thrown in at the end.

For croutons:

Half a loaf of bread, or a full loaf if you extra love croutons
Like 10g parmigiano, grated. More, if that’s your thing
A nice olive oil

Preheat your oven at 210°C. Tear bread into irregular sized chunks. Drizzle a generous but not overly generous amount of olive oil over, and grate parm over. Give it all a toss and throw into the top rack of your oven on the grill function for 10 minutes or so when your oven is ready.
Now, I don’t know what your oven is like. If yours only has the broil function, that works too but you might have to toast it for a longer period of time. If you’re using a loaf that is baked dark, make sure that the dark parts are facing down on the sheet, otherwise they’ll just get burnt.
Get your soffrito going. Heat a suitable-sized pot over medium heat, then warm up your oil for a sec or two. Throw in diced vegetables, turn heat down to medium-low and saute. Salt your vegetables with a nice pinch of sea salt. Also throw in bay leaf and thyme. Cook this for about 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
Once vegetables are translucent and cooked, add in garlic. If you need more oil at this point, please add some! Cook for a minute or two till garlic is fragrant. Add herbs de provence at this point, if using. The heat should coax out its gorg fragrance.
Throw in canned tomatoes. I don’t crush mine with my hands, I have eczema lol. Just break them up with a wooden spoon. Fill up tomato can with water and add that into your pot. Repeat. Throw in parmesan rind. Add drained cannellini beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes or so.
At this point, you can taste. Add more salt, add some stock, add dashi powder (just a pinch!!), as you please.
If your oven preheats quickly and you remembered to throw in the croutons, by now, you should be getting whiffs of toasty bread with burnt vibes (but they’re not burnt, promise. Just nicely charred.). So check on that and remove from the oven and let cool! Sneak a piece or two.
If using romaine lettuce, crank up the heat to bring everything up to a boil, throw in your romaine, then turn off. Stir through. The heat will cook your lettuce to a perfect degree. If using cabbage/kale, add in and cook for 5-15 minutes more or till vegetables are cooked.
If you’re pre-cooking this soup and are not ready to serve, hold off on adding your greens if they’re not hardy.
If you’re using basil, stir that in and finish with a nice EVOO, lots of pepper, and serve.
easy on the eyes, easy on the tummy