That lady in the tub is right...this soup really IS going to be awesome

Once again, it's been a while since I've posted anything here on ye olde food blog, but don't worry...I've figured out why. A pattern has emerged. It would seem that whenever I have a baby, it takes me about a year to wrap my head around it and get back into the groove. Problem was, I failed to leave much more than a year between the second baby and the third pregnancy. Good times. Anyway, don't worry...no more babies are scheduled so I should be good to go here on The Butter Dish. I was thinking about you all the time, though, and I've saved up some good recipes for you. Plus, babies are awesome and I'm sorry if you've been hungry - and I totally appreciate the handful of you who have actually told me that you've missed the recipe posts - but the tiny babies really are worth all the trouble. Until they turn 3, at least. And sometimes, they bring unexpected rewards. Like soup.

Soup, you say? Babies don't bring soup! How so? Well, when you have babies, sometimes friends bring you food to save your husband and other children from starving while you struggle between feeding the baby, fits of sobbing and bouts of narcolepsy. But, if you're smart and lucky like I am, you've surrounded yourself with people who like food as much as you do and bring you really good food. When my sweet baby boy was born last fall, the friends did not disappoint. My Jen brought me awesome chicken burritos that her excellent husband, Greg, made for us; Courtney came all the way from Reston with her world-famous Shepherd's Pie because she is amazing; and then Erin showed up from right down the street with a batch of this life-affirming soup I'm about to tell you all about. It's soooo good. I loved it right away. I asked Erin for the recipe when I called to thank her, but it's pretty straightforward so I decided to take a crack at it before I even got my hands on the directions. I didn't get it quite right according to the recipe, but I really liked my result so I'm still using it and when I say "using", I really, really mean it because now that the weather is cool, it's all I can do not to make it every few days. Fortunately, no one is complaining.

It's a version of the traditional Tuscan soup known as Ribollita and, like a lot of amazing Tuscan food, it started out as a peasant dish meant to stretch a small amount of meat and make use of affordable and readily available staples like simple vegetables and day-old bread. It's hearty and wonderful and really good for you...not just healthy, but sort of soul-warming. Because I can never just do what a recipe says and I first attempted it without a recipe in front of me, my version skips the very traditional pancetta that gets things started in the Tuscan version in favor of the wicked umami saltiness of anchovy paste - which makes it even healthier, really - but mine is also bulked up by the addition of Italian turkey sausage, as was Erin's. So, I've skipped the pancetta and added sausage and tonight in Tuscany, somebody's Nonna winces like she's been kicked. Still, the soup's core ingredients of white beans, carrots, onions and leafy greens remain. Frankly, I think you can mess with this and make it your own and it would be very hard to screw up. Try it. I'd go through childbirth again for it, but, I'm a giver so you don't have to. Consider this your post-partum meal from your friend Kristin even if the hardest part of your day was mundane in comparison, because, honestly, I have three little kids now and the odds of me showing up on your doorstep with actual food anytime soon are pretty slim. Take what you can get.

Sorta Ribollita

Ingredients:

• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, chopped
• 2-3 celery hearts, chopped
• 1 lb. Italian-style turkey sausage, casings removed
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled & smashed
• 1 1/2 T anchovy paste
• 2 T good, concentrated tomato paste (from a tube, not a can. Try Amore brand)
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 6 c. good chicken stock
• 1 15 oz. can Canellini beans
• 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 2" Parmigiano Reggiano rind (if you have it. It's traditional, but in this recipe, the anchovy paste does a lot of the work here)
• 4 c. kale, coarsely chopped, heavy spines removed
• 5 ciabatta rolls, split and toasted or any crusty, chewy Italian bread, torn or sliced and toasted
• Grated Parmigiano (garnish)

Instructions:

In a large soup pot or dutch oven,heat the olive oil and sweat the onion, carrots & celery. Don't brown them. When onion is translucent, add the sausage and cook through, crumbling as you go. When turkey is close to done, add the garlic and continue to stir & crumble. Add the anchovy & tomato pastes and pepper. Stir to incorporate. Add chicken stock and next 4 ingredients. Stir, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. Don't let it boil hard. Uncover soup and add chopped kale. Redule heat and stir. Cook uncovered for about 5 more minutes. While soup simmers, toast bread and rub with a garlic clove if desired. Remove bay leaves and cheese rind from soup. Place bread in bowls and ladle soup over bread. Serve immediately with grated parmigiano. Enjoy your suddenly improved quality of life...er...I mean, soup.