Ribollita

Published Jan. 11, 2010 at 2:02 a.m.

So there was a moment last week when I looked in the freezer, then closed the door. Looked again, winced, then reached a hand into the frosted landscape and extracted a petrified bag of eight Parmesan rinds. Back in for more, next came the stack of frozen rye crepes, one pack of Sambazon acai juice (expiration date 9/2004), gallon-sized freezer bags of cherries from my sister's tree, and pound after pound of frozen heirloom beans. By the time the excavation was complete I'd regained a square foot or so of freezer space, and had the inspiration for a hearty pot of ribollita defrosting in front of me. Ribollita is a thick Tuscan stew - dark greens, lots of beans, vegetables, olive oil, thickened with day-old bread.

For those of you who are curious, I made note of everything in my freezer: five types of chili powder; three serrano chile peppers; kaffir lime leaves; white popcorn kernels; cooked chickpeas, mung beans, flageolets, and marrow beans; lots of Massa brown rice; pasta sheets; unidentified cookie dough #1; unidentified cookie dough #2; cooked posole in one bag, red sauce in another (for this); 2 pounds wild huckleberries; 1 sweet whole wheat pastry tart shell, round; 1 sweet whole wheat pastry tart shell, rectangle; 6 small spelt-semolina tart shells; small bag of ginger juice; 2 pounds Straus European-style butter; plenty of this green soup - I puree it and make a tart filling; one pack of three-grain tempeh; a stack of frozen rye crepes; cooked farro, pound of green beans; pack of expired acai juice; 8 Parmesan rinds, and roughly five pounds of cherries from my sister's tree.

Phew. So after deciding to put some of those beans to use, I made this ribollita. I should mention, it's one of those things where there are as many ways to make it as there are cooks. I normally use whole canned tomatoes this time of year - torn up. But had crushed tomatoes onhand, and they worked out nicely. As far as guidelines go? Your ribollita should be thick - eventually. The photo up above is a little deceptive. It was shot just after I made the ribollita, five minutes after I turned off the heat. Things hadn't finished thickening up entirely. You can see it is quite brothy around the edges. This changed substantially in the hours to follow, and this morning a glance at the leftovers told me I might be able to stand a fork up in it. I add abit of lemon zest at the end for a bit of brightness, and because I can't help myself. And I like the saltiness of the olives alongside the kale, so that's a little bonus as well.

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