Ribollita

I learned this from an excellent cooking class on gourmet soups taught by Chef Bernard Kinsella. Ribollita is Italian for awesome. OK, really, it's Italian for reboil, I believe. Anywho, it's essentially just boiling up a simple stew or soup of whatever vegetable you happen to have on hand. Something about the preparation method though really has a huge impact on the flavor. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 stalks of celery
2 carrots, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped
14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (fresh is fine too)
3/4 lb of Swiss chard (or 1/2 head cabbage), chopped
1/2 pound cooked lentils or beans
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped (1/8 cup dried will work too)
4 cups vegetable stock (or water)
optional: 4 slices of stale bread, torn into bite-size pieces

Directions

1. Heat a large pot over medium low heat and add olive oil, onion, garlic, celery, salt, carrots, and zucchini. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes so that the veggies sweat out their flavors and do not brown.

2. Stir in the diced tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes.

3. Add the Swiss chard (or cabbage), lentils or beans, basil, and parsley. Stir and mash a few of the lentils/beans to thicken the soup. Cook for 10 minutes.

4. Add the vegetable stock (or water) and bring to a boil before lowering to a simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

5. If using bread, add and cook until it has broken down, about 10 minutes.