Tuscan Vegetable Soup (Ribollita) - 1 - $ - V

This is a great, easy recipe that will feed at least 6 people and is courtesy of the lovely Ben O'Donoghue.It's full of veggies, which equals vitamins, and believe me all the chopping is worth it.



Ingredients

2 tbs olive oil
1/2 bunch of celery, finely chopped
3 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
2 red onions, chopped
1 bunch of silverbeet, leaves and stems chopped, but keep the two different parts separate
1 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped or crushed is fine too
2 x 400gm cans of chopped tomatoes
400gm can borlotti or cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained
1 loaf of ciabatta bread (a couple of days old is fine), torn into chunks



Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a low heat. Add the celery, carrots, onion, silverbeet stems (not the leaves yet) and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and cook for around 20 minutes until the veggies are soft.
Add the garlic and cook/stir for 3 minutes, then add the tomatoes and cook for half an hour until thickened. Boil some water in the kettle when this stage is almost complete.
Add the silverbeet leaves and half the beans and add enough boiling water to cover everything in the pot. Simmer for another half an hour.
Mash the remaining beans with a fork and add the mash and bread to the soup.



Serve and enjoy!