RIBOLLITA (Tuscan vegetable soup with bread)

Soup - Complete meal




Cannellini beans (Tuscan white beans), 2 jars
Swiss chard, roughly chopped 8 oz.
Potatoes, thinly sliced 2 medium
Carrots, thinly sliced 2 medium
Onions, thinly sliced 2 medium
Leeks, thinly sliced 1 (only the white part)
Zucchini, thinly sliced 2 medium
Celery sticks, sliced 2
Black Tuscan cabbage, shredded 10 oz
Savoy (or green) cabbage, shredded 10 oz
Peeled tomatoes, crushed 1 can
Italian bread (preferably ciabatta from the day before), sliced 1 lbs
Grated parmesan, salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil as desired

Being Tuscan Cabbage really hard to find (if not impossible) you can use 1 lb of Savoy or green cabbage (or a mix of the two).

Drain and rinse the beans.
In a really big pot put all the vegetables and water at least to cover all of them.
Bring the soup to a boil then lower the heat and let it gently boil for at least 2 hours, adjust with salt and pepper (optional).
At this point add the bread and let it absorb all the liquid.
The day after, warm the soup again (ribollita means boiled twice) and serve it drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and parmesan.
Another way to serve this soup is layering bread, vegetables and olive oil, finishing with parmesan. In this way you can warm the soup in the oven or freeze it, divided into portions.

QUICK FAGIOLI ALL'UCCELLETTO

Side dish

Ingredients:
2 jars of beans (Whit Tuscan cannellini)
12 oz strained tomatoes
garlic, 2 cloves chopped (whole, if you prefer to remove it)
sage, 3 leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
rosemary

Warm oil in a big skillet on medium heat, put garlic, sage and rosemary and sautee a couple of minutes.
Add beans, stir, turn heat to high and add wine, let it evaporate while stirring.
Turn heat on medium again and add tomatoes, salt and pepper (if desired).
Let it gently boil for 20 minutes so that the sauce thickens a bit.
Serve hot with grilled meat or with sausages cooked together with beans in the sauce.

OMELETTE ROLLS

Appetizer

Ingredients
2 eggs
4oz ricotta cheese
1 or 2 tbsp milk
Herbs (basil or parsley), chopped
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg

Beat eggs in a bowl and add a pinch of salt, pepper or nutmeg; with this mixture, make 1 or more THIN omelettes (it depends on the skillet size).
Prepare a cream with ricotta, milk, herbs, salt, pepper (optional); spread it over the omelettes and roll.
Wrap with transparent film and put in the fridge for at least an hour.
When the moment is right, cut into slices 1" thick and serve with lettuce or in a mixed appetizer.

RICOTTA SEMIFREDDO

dessert

Italian for "half cold," semifreddo culinarily refers to any of various chilled or partially frozen desserts including cake, ice cream, fruit and custard or whipped cream.

Ingredients:
12 oz. ricotta
6 tbsp confectioners' sugar
3 oz. cocoa powder
3 egg's whites
1 espresso (or 3 tbsp coffee or milk)

In a bowl mix ricotta with sugar, cocoa powder and coffee (or milk).
In another bowl, beat the egg's whites until they become white and firm; gently add them to the ricotta mix and combine mixing from bottom up.
Divide this cream into 4 individual smaller bowls and put in the fridge for a couple hours.
Serve with thin cookies and, if desired, decor with whipped cream.