#11 Ribollita

This story is part of College Meals Gone Wild, a collection of cheap, easy, and realistic meals that I made for myself out of my small, ovenless kitchen to sustain my body and mind while I survive and thrive through college.

I’m starting to get a little tired of stewed beans and rice so I figure I change it up a bit and make soup. I was randomly strolling through the farmer’s market when I saw some Tuscan kale so I knew what I had to do. I have fond memories of trying ribollita — Tuscan kale and white bean soup — so I tried my hand at making a version of that. I basically took the stew of chickpeas and sofrito and added some more tomato paste, chicken broth, and kale, a couple of chopped tomatoes, and seasoned it with more salt and heaps of olive oil. I had some leftover sausages with it as well as it sort of fit that theme. Instead of bread, I decided to add the rest of my brown rice which made for a different but nice experience/

I’m really happy with how this turned out. Simple, hearty, and delicious. I never get tired of eating these peasant dishes. Maybe that makes me a peasant but I like to think that it goes to show how innovative these makers of culture have been in creating dishes with the little they had that hundreds of years later, a man from an unimaginably different time, culture, and socio-economic background can enjoy them and write about them on this magical concept called “the internet”.