Italian Ribollita soup is a creamy, healthy, full flavoured vegetable soup. Made with store cupboard ingredients and all those leftovers from the week this budget friendly, autumnal soup is perfect for an easy meal when the nights are starting to draw in.
Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and leeks and cook on a medium heat until softened. Add garlic, dried thyme, carrot and celery then stir and continue to cook. Next add the tomatoes, stock and fresh sprigs of thyme. Stir and bring to the boil. Pop on a lid, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes remove the lid and stir in the cannellini beans and freshly grated parmesan. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
Next transfer ⅓ of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the smooth part of the soup back in the chunky soup and mix well. Stir in the black kale. Pop the lid back on and simmer for a further 5 minutes or until the kale has just started to wilt.
Remove the lid, season with sea salt, black pepper and parmesan, then serve.
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Recipe tip:To stick the traditional recipe of Tuscan Ribollita soup, line the serving bowls with stale bread (or slices of ciabatta if you prefer) and pour the soup over the top. The bread soaks up the soup and thickens.Is ribollita soup healthy?Honestly, this must be the best soup! Each bowl is just under 300 calories, with only 8g fat and 3g saturates. Its also full of veg - as you can probably see, each bowl has a whopping 4 servings of veg in it. Theres also 9g of fibre, 22g protein, 37g carbs, and its high in potassium and vitamin A (good for your heart muscles and your immune system). So you get the picture its nutritious, its well balanced - this is one healthy vegetable soup!What can I use if I don't have vegetable stock?You can definitely get by without vegetable stock, vegetable stock is basically vegetables boiled, with herbs and seasoning, to release their flavours and then conveniently packaged for you! just add water in place of the stock and cook the vegetables until they are soft then season the cooking water well. Add dried Italian seasoning to enhance that authentic flavour!