Rustic Italian Ribollita Soup Mama Caruso Style

Mama Caruso's Ribollita Ingredients

Congratulations to winners of the "food tradition" question from last week. Advance copies of the Ribollita Recipe have been delivered and soon will be coming to you, but first let me tell you a little bit about what make this hearty soup so special.

Ribollita means “reboiled” and is a hearty Italian peasant soup. I first made ribollita while in Panzano in Chianti in Tuscany, Italy and when the cooking was all done, people came from all over to enjoy the meal.

Paired with a simple house red wine and an apple tart, the locals shared with me that this was one of their favorite meals because it reminded them of their childhood; the fragrance while cooking, the comfort of the rustic flavors and the satisfying heartiness of the ribollita.

 There are hundreds of recipes for this soup and I have taken broad liberties to make it the soup that I love to serve. The modifications would probably make it unrecognizable in Italy, but satisfy the people for whom I enjoy cooking. The versatility of this soup makes it great for a cold winter night and for sitting out on the patio on a long summer’s evening.

The recipe will be available on this site at no cost to those wishing to print it themselves, if you would like a laminated 9 x 12 two-sided version with color photos mailed to you, the recipe is available for purchase price to cover the costs of printing, laminating and mailing through e-bay at http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=271000483605. Just want to make it easy for anyone to get!