The Family Table: Slow cookin’ some soup
Slow cooker season is nigh!
The runny noses and allergy issues have started in our house, which means all of us want some soup. There鈥檚 no better way to fill that need than with my trusty slow cooker. Cooking the soup, as the name 鈥渟low cooker鈥� implies, isn鈥檛 a quick process, but not standing over the stove stirring is well worth it to me 鈥� especially when it feels like elephants are trampling my sinuses.
When we were first dating, Mike made ribollita soup for me. It was one of the first times he cooked me a meal.
It became an instant favorite for me and with the addition of bread to thicken it, the soup can pretty much be served as a main course when accompanied by a nice salad.
Our kiddos, too, love the soup, and over the years, we鈥檝e tinkered with the recipe to make it our own. While ribollita usually uses kale as the go-to green (and it is absolutely delicious that way), we鈥檝e used whatever greens we have on hand, from spinach to Swiss chard.
If the kids are dining with us, we scale back on the red pepper flakes; if they aren鈥檛, we add enough to make sure we won鈥檛 be stuffy when we鈥檙e through eating.
When she knows this particular soup is being made, Josie, our resident school lunch packer, will almost always flash her dimple at us, asking that some be set aside for her next day鈥檚 thermos.
We, of course, oblige.
The great thing about this soup (and scads of others) is that if you really want to make it easy on yourself, you can easily go to the supermarket and buy the ingredients already pre-cut. Most markets have salad bars these days, and if you鈥檙e willing to pay a bit more, most also sell veggies diced and minced in the produce department. It makes an already simple recipe even simpler to replicate at home.
Any way you cut it, ribollita is a filling, delicious soup that鈥檚 well worth a try the next time you need something warm and comforting.
Ribollita Soup
2 cans cannellini beans, drained, rinsed and divided
2 onions, diced
3 carrots, two shredded, one diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
1, 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes
6 cups fresh chopped spinach, kale or Swiss chard
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
8 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
3 cups of Tuscan bread, cut into cubes
陆 cup Parmesan cheese
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Using a fork, roughly mash one can of the cannellini beans. Leave the second can whole. Heat oil in a pot (I use my slow cooker base for this part because it鈥檚 stove top safe) and saut茅 the onion, carrot and celery until they鈥檙e softened. Add in the garlic and stir until it鈥檚 just starting to cook. Stir in the greens and parsley until the greens just start to wilt. Add red pepper flakes if you want a spicy bite to the soup.
Empty the vegetables into the slow cooker, pour in the broth and tomatoes with their juices, and stir in the potatoes and both the mashed and whole beans. Set the slow cooker for 3 hours on high heat or 6 hours on low heat. About an hour before you鈥檙e ready to serve, add the bread cubes. They鈥檒l dissolve into the soup, thickening it. Just before serving, stir in the cheese and adjust seasonings as necessary.