Ribollita

Ribollita, translated from Italian, literally means "reboiled." But Ribollita sounds much more appetizing and appropriate for a such a delicious Tuscan soup. I just love how the name rolls off your tongue! Like most Tuscan cuisine, Ribollita has peasant origins. It has many variations as it's typically made from leftover soup reboiled the next day, but it is always vegetarian and contains cheap veggies, beans, and stale bread as a thickener.

I receive a produce box from a local farm each week. I never know what I'm going to get, but it's always fun coming up with dishes around fabulously fresh produce. Any leftovers or vegetables I don't know what to do with end up in Ribollita. This is good any time of year, but this hearty soup is especially delicious on a cold or rainy evening. 

Ingredients:

• olive oil
• vegetables: fennel, onion, celery, carrot, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, cooked potatoes, chard, etc. 
• salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 cups vegetable stock
• 1 can cannellini beans
• stale bread, crumbled
• pepper

1. In soup pot, heat olive oil over medium. Add vegetables that need to be softened such as the fennel, onion, celery, or carrot. Sprinkle generously with salt and saute until fragrant and soft. Add garlic and cook for a couple more minutes.
2. Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, and add beans and other vegetables such as tomatoes, kale, cabbage, chard, or potato. Cook until vegetables are soft.
3. Remove about half of the veggies and set aside in a bowl. Using immersion blender, slightly puree the soup remaining in the pot, but not too much. Add back in the veggies which were previously removed. 
4. Add the bread and allow to cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Season and serve.

Dry Fried Green Beans

My husband has been obsessed with Chinese food lately, but I'm not complaining. I'm especially not complaining since I discovered the most amazing green beans which can be found on virtually any Chinese restaurant menu. These green beans come by various names: whether called dry-fried, dry-saute, Szeshuan, or Chinese green beans or string beans, you are getting something delicious. It's hard to reproduce this dish at home without a super hot wok, but this is a pretty good knock off for basically costing a buck or two. 

You might be wondering what dry-saute or dry-fried means. It does not refer to a lack of cooking fat used as I would have guessed. The food is fried in oil over moderately high heat which evaporates the moisture from the food's interior and the exterior becomes browned. It is then tossed in a sauce and the dry-fried food will soak it up like a sponge.

Ingredients:

• 1 cut neutral oil (canola or peanut)
• 1 lb fresh French-style green beans, trimmed and cut into uniform size
• 1 tablespoons garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• couple pinches of crushed red pepper flakes, depending on how spicy you want your beans
• drizzle of soy sauce

1. Heat oil over high heat for about 3 minutes. Carefully add green beans and cook, stirring occasionally until the beans are tender and thoroughly blistered. Transfer beans to paper towel lined plat and pat off oil.
2. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes, and cook for 15 seconds.
3. Add beans back to pan and coat with sauce. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds and then serve immediately.