Week 1 of working from home, under quarantine, in our new home in Amsterdam meant a weeknight dinner favorite was pulled out of the go-to recipe reserves: Ribollita. A hardy recipe born from stretching out minestrone into another meal, the “re-boiled” soup is supplemented with cannellini beans and soaked bread.

Let’s start!

I always prefer mine with a little meat, specifically Italian sausage. So after starting the pot with diced onion, diced carrot, and garlic – add in the pork sausage. Season with salt & black pepper.

Tip: When you cannot get Italian sausage you can use plain ol’ground pork with: fennel seed, oregano, chili flake. I had some thyme so I added that too. For a soup it’s easier to use the whole thing and pluck it out before serving.

Next, a favorite soup ingredient: leeks! They add a certain sweetness to the soup that’s perfect to balance any savory soup.

This Ribollita Minestrone is smelling good. Yup, change in plans. In my jet lagged ordering of groceries, I forgot beans – shells to the rescue!

Another key feature of ribollita is kale, so we’re adding that in too – this is a hybrid soup now.

Last step, add crushed tomato and water. I dropped a chicken bouillon too.

Note: the bottle shown is European sized, and not full. I added the equivalent of a standard size can.

Bring it all to a boil and serve with a generous amount of grated parmesan or pecorino cheese. Tip: I used a microplane grater to get the big snowflakes of salty cheese