Italian Chicken Soup

 
1 hen or chicken

1 carrot. 

1 red onion

1 stock of celery

2 potatoes

water

Chicken soup is made by bringing to a boil and then simmering hen or chicken  in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic Italian chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pasta,small ravioli or tortellini. 

Chicken soup has also a reputation  for  colds and flus, and  is considered a classic comfort food. Traditionally, chicken soup is prepared using old hens too tough and stringy to be roasted or cooked for a short time.  Old hens are to be preferred ,when available, for soups even if this will take more time to cook
Cook the hen/chicken in abundant( at least 3 liters) water with a pinch of rock salt. Bring to a boil with high flame and then let it simmer. Let it cook for at least a couple of hours if it is a hen , otherwise an hour is usually enough, skimming it  regularly.

Wash and  slice the vegetables. Cook them in  another pot with 2 liters water and a pinch of salt for 40 minutes. When the hen/chicken is cooked ,take it out from the broth and cut in pieces to be served with  pickled, mayonnese ,or with the cooked vegetable or  sauté in a pan with  oil, sage, rosemary  and wine.

Filter the broth through a  canvas to get rid of all the possible fat. Mix the broth with the vegetable broth and let it cook for half an hour.

Now your broth is ready to be  served  with any kind of small soup pastas cooked in it for 10 minutes.

Ribollita _Tuscan Soup

Ribollita means 're-cooked' in Italian. Tuscan peasants prepared a soup with various green vegetables, served with a slice of bread just to give more consistency to the food.Peasants were poor and had not very much to eat .It is still common nowadays to serve soups with a slice of bread in each bowl .

They left the soup with bread on a side ,the day after they served it reheated .That’s what ‘s done nowadays ,not even waiting one day if not possible. The longer it lingers, the better it gets.
There are many different recipes, but most Tuscan recipes call for cavolo nero - black leaf kale - the closest substitute being savoy (green, crinkled, loose-leafed) cabbage - and cannelini - tuscan white beans .

Ribollita Toscana

200 g “cannellini” beans

20 leaves “cavolo nero”

2 swiss chards

200 gr green beans

1 savoy cabbage

4 Potato

Tomato sauce

Pancetta

Onion

Garlic

Parsley

2 stock cubes

Salt

Stale Bread

Oil

In a large casserole or cast iron or cast aluminum pot, with a cover and a thick bottom heat the olive on a bit more than medium heat - you want to sautee the ingredients slowly until the onion is transparent or lightly golden NOT browned - add the chopped onion, carrot, celery, leek, optional garlic stirring often until the onion has turned color (about ten minutes, depending on the heat)

Add a little water and a glass of tomato sauce. When this mixture boils add to it the vegetables (4 potatoes , 1 savoy cabbage , 200g green beans, 2 swiss chards and 20 leaves of black cabbage) which you have previously cut into big pieces.

First add the the harder vegetables and then the softer ones. Add, pureeing half of them, 200g of cannellini beans which you have cooked separately.When the vegetables are half-cooked add two stock cubes and season with salt. Leave to cook for at least one hour.

When all of the vegetables are soft prepare some slices of stale bread in a large bowl. Add olive oil and then cover with a layer of the cooked vegetables. Continue making layers of bread and vegetables. Now you have a “zuppa di pane” (bread soup).

Put some olive oil in a frying pan,add the “zuppa di pane” and cook it until a slight crust forms, if possible. Now you have your ribollita.