Finally its Ribollita time!

Celery arrived in my veg box weeks ago which made me want to cook one of my all time favourite dishes - Ribollita - only I've struggled to find the time till now.

Some people, such as the River Cafe, seem to consider this dish a summer dish. I suppose to a degree it is as ingredients include fresh tomatoes and kale which are mid summer/autumn seasonal produce. However, I feel the soup works equally well in winter using tinned tomatoes and savoy cabbage.

Why is Ribollita so lauded when it is essentially a basic veg soup with beans? A fair question, but I think its the fact that one takes the time to cook the ingredients properly, the slice of toasted sourdough soaking up the juices in the bottom of your bowl and the drizzle of olive oil.

There are many recipes for Ribollita - all similar, but with a different balance of ingredients. I think everyone has their personal favourite (perhaps its a Vedic food thing?). The River Cafe and Jamie Oliver prefer a very green soup (did Jamie learn his from Ruthie & Rose?). I prefer a more tomato-based soup.

I have tended to refer to the Riverford recipe, but today I decided to follow the one in Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall's VEG book. I think this is the best recipe I've found - Its extremely simple (some Ribollita recipes are overwhelmingly long-winded for something this is essentially vegetable soup). The veg are chopped really fine, sweated for a decent length of time and then the soup is simmered for a full hour before being finished off. The addition of the herbs tied together and the garlic on the toasted bread add an extra flavour which takes it from simple vegetable soup to something wonderful. Hugh also suggests that if you are using tinned beans, you should mash half of them with a bit of water. This is new to me, but seems to help create the right consistency, especially when you consider freshly cooked beans tend to be softer than the tinned option.

It has not escaped me that both Riverford and Hugh F-W both promote rustic, kitchen garden cooking, whilst the River Cafe and JO promote seasonal produce with an urban flair.

A post run/yoga energy giving meal - perfect set up for a Sunday afternoon in the burgeoning spring sunshine sewing seeds and bulbs!

And the left-overs are in the fridge where the flavours are continuing to expand - can't wait for supper tomorrow!

03.03.13