Ribollita

Ribollita is cannellini beans and kale simmered with stale bread until it thickens into something between a soup and a stew. It's Tuscany's peasant dish, and the name — literally "reboiled" — points at its whole reason for existing: it was built to be made once and eaten again the next day, tasting better each time it came back to the stove.

What it actually is

Cannellini beans, simmered until soft, form the base along with carrot, celery, onion and dark kale or cavolo nero, all cooked down slowly in a generous amount of olive oil until the vegetables are completely soft and the broth has thickened. Chunks of stale bread go in toward the end and are left to soak and break down, thickening the whole pot further until it holds together more like a dense stew than a clear soup.

The genuinely traditional version is made a day ahead, cooled, and then reheated — reboiled — the following day, by which point the bread has fully absorbed the broth and the flavour has settled and deepened.

How it's served

• Hot, in a deep bowl, thick enough that a spoon stands up in it.
• With a generous drizzle of olive oil poured over at the table, not cooked in beforehand.
• The day after it's made, traditionally, rather than fresh off the first cook.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag the gluten in the bread; it's the one common allergen in an otherwise naturally vegan dish.
• Mention that it's naturally vegan, a genuinely filling option to place among heavier dishes on the same menu.
• Say if you serve it freshly made or reheated from the day before, since the traditional version is deliberately the latter and worth naming as such.
• Note that it should be thick, not soupy; a guest expecting a clear vegetable soup should know this is meant to hold its shape on a spoon.