Hellobee

Soup is one of my favorite foods and my kids love it as much as I do (I’ve saved several of the soups Mrs. Bee posted about recently to try soon). While Mr. Dolphin isn’t a big soup person, he is a big fan of Tuscan ribollita soup because it is so hearty and filling. He calls it “bread soup” because it is thickened with bread. I like that it’s very healthy and I can throw in whatever extra vegetables I have on hand in addition to stale bread. No stale bread? No problem, fresh works, too. Like most soups, it tastes even better as leftovers the next day. It is a vegetarian soup that provides a bit of protein with the addition of white beans. The parmesan rind gives the soup great flavor, so even if you use water instead of stock, it ends up being well seasoned. My local grocery store sells parmesan rinds, but if you frequently use parmesan in your household, you can save the rinds in the freezer to flavor soups like this one.

Is there anything better than a hearty soup on a cold day?

In the recipe below, I make some vegetable suggestions (carrots, celery, tomatoes, spinach), but feel free to use the vegetables you have on hand. I’ve also thrown in kale, cabbage, and squash which is all very tasty, though I find that summer squash softens a bit more than I’d like for this recipe. Because of all the bread, which has a soft texture, I like to include vegetables with a little more bite. This is a very thick soup so if you like something with more liquid, you should increase the amount of stock or water.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic, sliced or chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 8-10 oz spinach or other leafy green, chopped or torn
• 2 roma tomatoes, diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
• 2 cups cannellini or other white beans (or 1 can, drained and rinsed)
• 2 tsp thyme
• 6 cups vegetable/chicken stock or water (a great use for the bone broth we always have on hand!)
• 2 parmesan rinds
• 2-3 cups sourdough bread, torn into pieces (or ciabatta, french bread or other firm bread)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery and cook 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add tomato paste to the vegetables and cook for another 1-2 minutes until fragrant. I actually will sometimes throw in the entire can of the tomato paste because I don’t want to waste the rest and often don’t have another use for it.
3. Add in the spinach and cook 3-5 minutes until wilted. Add in the diced tomatoes, white beans, thyme, stock, thyme and parmesan rinds.  Let simmer for at least 30 minutes.
4. Add torn bread and let simmer for an additional 7-10 minutes, until the soup thickens. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Remove parmesan rinds before serving. The soup will thicken as it stands and be very thick the next day.

I forgot to buy tomatoes and, for once, we didn’t have any canned tomatoes in the house. Oh well, still delicious!