A rib-sticking, pot-licking bowl of winter goodness. The hero of this Tuscan peasant soup is cavalo nero, or black kale, and this weekend I picked the first leaves from my teenage plants. A big pot of this bubbling on the coal range for a couple of days only gets better.

A few years ago we stayed in Florence for a couple of weeks. With an unexpected daughter or two tagging along our food budget was cut in half so we had only 50 euros a day for four of us to spend on food and entry fees. This meant a diet of panini, pizza and pasta and it didn’t take long for constipation to set in. Then we discovered Ribollita in the restaurants, chock full of beans, veges and olive oil and only 5 euros a bowl. The trouble was that it was extremely frowned upon by the snooty waiters to only eat the first, or primo, course and not order anything else from the menu so we couldn’t go to the same place twice or we would lose our element of surprise. All of the restaurants seemed to have the same menu of Tuscan specialties and we were able to find a different restaurant every couple of days to eat our soup. Every bowlful was exactly the same in every restaurant. It never came with parmesan as we in NZ might expect but always came to the table oozing with very green and fruity extra virgin olive oil and a slice of the strange unsalted Tuscan ciabatta.

When we got home I spent some time trying to replicate what we ate in Florence.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups dried beans soaked overnight and cooked to make three cups of cooked beans (I have used white cannellini beans here, but in Florence it was always pink speckled borlotti beans). Reserve 3 cups of the bean cooking water. Or use a couple of cans of beans and an extra 3 cups of water.
• 3 tbsp oil
• 2 sticks celery, chopped into cubes
• 1 large carrot, chopped into cubes
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• Sprig of thyme
• 4 cups water
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes in juice
• Bayleaves
• 2 medium potatoes chopped into large chunks
• 350 g cavalo nero leaves stripped from their stalks and rolled and sliced lengthways, then across, to make chunks rather than strips.  Chop the stalks into pieces. If you don’t have any, in true peasant style, use what you do have – maybe silverbeet, or cabbage.
• 3 or 4 slices day old bread, torn into pieces. Ideally this would be a sturdy ciabatta, but use what you have
• Extra virgin olive oil to serve.

Method

1. In a large soup pot cook the celery, carrots, onion, garlic and thyme in the oil until soft.
2. Puree 1 cup of the cooked beans in three cups of the bean cooking water (or just water), taste and add some salt, and add to the vegetables in the pan.
3. Add 4 cups water, the tomatoes and the potatoes and bring to the boil. Cover and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until the vegetables are soft.
4. Add the rest of the beans, the greens, their stalks and the chunks of bread then simmer again for 20 mins until it all comes together in a thick and glorious soupy stew. Season to taste with salt.
5. Serve with your best olive oil poured on top.