We received braising greens for a couple of weeks in a row from our farm share, and I hadn’t used them up. These greens are tough! They’re some sort of combination of mustard, kale, chard and other somewhat bitter, hearty greens, and they looked just as good after two weeks in my fridge as on the day I’d picked them up. When it comes to deep dark greens like kale and this braising mix, my thoughts immediately turn to soup — I find them palatable cooked this way, whereas I still haven’t come around to enjoying them simply sauteed.
I followed the recipe for Ribollita on 101 Cookbooks, as I usually find success with Heidi’s recipes. This is a simple, rustic recipe but because it involves a lot of vegetable prep, it took me quite a long time to prepare. I can’t help it, I’m slow with a knife. I used my braising greens instead of the Tuscan kale, and canned cannellini beans instead of dried.
I did have a bowl the night I made it, but served most of the soup the next day, “reboiled.” (That’s what ribollita means in Italian.) It was good. I can’t be more effusive because I just don’t adore the ingredients, but it was pleasant to eat and I think the adults eating with me all felt similarly. If nothing else, it was good for us! The lemon zest was a highlight, freshening up the deep, heavy flavors of the greens and beans.
While I was zesting the lemon, my five year old came into the kitchen to hang out. I told him the soup I was making had an interesting name, “Ribollita.”
“Oh,” he said. “That sounds French because of the ‘a’ on the end.” Pretty close, my man! Pretty close.
Carol’s recipe for Hot & Sour Soup is perfect for a cook like me: it’s evocative of a dish I enjoy in restaurants, but it’s simplified so it’s easy to find everything you need to cook it on your regular grocery run. I like the chance to cook with authentic ingredients sometimes, but for me at least a reasonable approximation of an ethnic dish is usually just fine. (Kevin at Closet Cooking researched traditional recipes for his Chinese Hot & Sour Soup, which includes harder-to-find ingredients such as dried lily buds, if you are able to get your hands on specialty groceries.)
I used my homemade chicken stock and generally followed Carol’s recipe, though I used .75 oz. of reconstituted shitake mushrooms in addition to a couple of cups of baby bellas. I also used 2 Tbsp. of ground ginger (from a jar), added straight into the soup for flavor. The scallions aren’t just for garnish, they add a nice bite to the overall flavor so don’t leave them out.
Overall I really enjoyed this soup, and with the egg, tofu, and very generous amount of mushrooms it’s very filling. I don’t think I’ve ever used vinegar in a soup before, so the flavor was very different than what I usually make and I really enjoyed that change. It definitely reminded me of hot & sour soup from a Chinese restaurant, though not as gelatinous and much more mushroom-y (for me, that’s a good thing). Next time I will tone down the mushrooms and add bamboo shoots as well. You can also garnish with additional red pepper flakes for a little more heat — I did, and my gums still feel a little warm from it!
The other day A. was feeling a little under the weather, so I let him choose dinner and he asked for noodle soup — my homemade chicken soup, strained until clear, with thin egg noodles cooked in the broth. Luckily I had one more container in the freezer, and he (and G.) happily slurped up those noodles as if he knew they’d make him feel better.
That virus is still lingering, so he stayed home from school today in that weird in-between where you’re not quite well enough to go to school, but you certainly don’t feel sick enough to stay in bed (or even nap, dammit). He had plenty of energy to act like a loon with his brother, scarf down three full meals, and still have room for ice cream.
I started a fresh pot of chicken soup at noon today, and let it simmer all afternoon so that he could have noodle soup for dinner again (his request). And now I’m restocked. I keep these containers in the fridge overnight, skim off the fat, and then freeze them. Hopefully I won’t need another noodle soup dinner as medicine anytime soon.
I saw flanken at my kosher butcher several months ago, and knew back then that I wanted to make it with split pea soup. Flanken are thinly-cut beef short ribs; Beth has a great photo of them on her site. Flanken-cut ribs are sometimes called “Korean style” as well — they’re usually barbecued, while kosher flanken is usually cooked low and slow. Perfect for the Crock-Pot.
I used Stephanie O’Dea’s CrockPot Split Pea Soup Recipe as a starting point, and to get the liquid to solid ratio right for my soup. I had the bag of dried peas in my pantry and the flanken in my freezer, so although I hadn’t shopped for the other ingredients I decided to pull it together from what I had on hand. It was so delicious, I’d probably make it the same way next time!
We wound up not eating this for dinner (J. and the boys had way less enthusiasm for trying this soup than I did), but I have been enjoying it myself one bowl at a time. I did freeze a good portion, and after removing the flanken from the bone, shredded it and put it on top of the soup. I’m going to defrost it and serve it for dinner tomorrow night, when my parents are here — I think they’ll love it too.
If I’d had enough vegetable stock in the house to do so, I would have eliminated the veggie stock cube entirely and just done 5 cups of broth. I might have also added some chopped carrots.
I found the consistency of the soup was smooth enough for me without blending, but you can certainly use an immersion blender to get it more uniformly creamy. Just don’t forget to remove the bay leaf and flanken first!
Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup with Flanken
1 lb. flanken-cut beef ribs (or a little more)
1 medium onion, diced
1 lb. bag dried split peas, rinsed and picked through
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. kosher salt
10 grinds black pepper
1 vegetable stock cube (I use Telma), crushed
1 c. vegetable stock
4 c. water
Add ingredients in the order listed to a 6 qt. slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove bay leaf, discard. Remove flanken and set aside until it is cool enough to handle. Remove meat from the bones, and shred. Serve soup with a small portion of flanken on top, or stir it back into the pot.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more about me and CITK, and keep in touch:
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Cheesy Kale Crisps: We rarely eat kale now that our farm share is over, and I want to fix that. I've wanted to try using nutritional yeast, and this recipe looks like a tasty way to do it.
We wound up not eating this for dinner (J. and the boys had way less enthusiasm for trying this soup than I did), but I have been enjoying it myself one bowl at a time. I did freeze a good portion, and after removing the flanken from the bone, shredded it and put it on top of the soup. I’m going to defrost it and serve it for dinner tomorrow night, when my parents are here — I think they’ll love it too.
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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