Saveur: The New Comfort Food (8 page)

Ribollita

The Italian name for this soup—ribollita, which literally means reboiled—reveals its very practical origins as a way to use leftover vegetables and day-old bread. Long simmering renders the beans tender and the kale silky; hunks of rustic bread all but disappear, thickening the broth to a stewlike consistency. Flavorful and sustaining, the sum of these humble parts is a masterpiece of Tuscan peasant cooking.

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tbsp. for serving

½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

6 ribs celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 medium carrots, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained

2 lbs. trimmed and roughly chopped kale or cavolo nero (see Cooking Note)

3 14-oz. cans borlotti or cannellini beans, drained

1 ¾ -lb. loaf stale ciabatta bread, trimmed of crust and torn into 1-inch pieces

Serves 8–10

1. Heat ¼ cup oil in an 8-qt. pot over medium-high heat. Add the parsley, celery, garlic, carrots, and onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are golden brown, 15–20 minutes.

2. Put the tomatoes into a medium bowl. Crush the tomatoes by hand and transfer to the pot along with the juices. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until thickened, 25–30 minutes. Add the kale, 2 cans of beans, and 16 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, until the kale is tender, about 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, purée the remaining can of beans and ½ cup of water in a blender. Stir into the pot. Add the bread pieces and remaining oil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve soup drizzled with olive oil.

COOKING NOTE
Ribollita can be made with any type of kale, but cavolo nero, a Tuscan variety that grows through the lean winter months, maintains its body and crinkly texture particularly well. In the United States, cavolo nero is also known as dinosaur kale, Tuscan kale, and lacinato kale.

Bigos

The extravagant pork and sauerkraut stew called bigos may be our favorite from Poland’s wide repertoire of hearty pork dishes. Thick with smoked pork shoulder, pork butt, bacon, and kielbasa, this version is based on one made by Stella Bobak, whose family owns the Chicago supermarket Bobak’s, a venerable emporium of Polish products and pork in every imaginable cut and cure.

¼ oz. dried porcini mushrooms

¼ lb. smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

2 oz. fatback, cut into
½ -inch cubes

½ lb. boneless pork butt, cut into 1-inch pieces

½ lb. smoked kielbasa, cut into 1-inch pieces

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lb. smoked pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch pieces

6 whole allspice

2 bay leaves

2 large yellow onions, chopped

6 tbsp. tomato paste

1 tbsp. flour

4 lbs. sauerkraut, roughly chopped and rinsed

½ cup red wine

6 cups beef or veal stock Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Serves 8

1. Put the dried mushrooms and 1½ cups water into a bowl and let soften for 1 hour. Drain and reserve water.

2. Heat the oven to 350°F. Cook the bacon and fatback in a large pot over medium heat until crisp, 8–10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon and fatback to a plate. Add the pork butt, kielbasa, and pork shoulder to the pot and increase heat to medium-high; cook, turning meat occasionally, until the meat is browned, 12–14 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.

3. Add the allspice, bay leaves, and onions to the pot and cook, scraping up browned bits, until softened, 8–10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook until browned, 8–10 minutes. Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and sauerkraut to the pot and cook for about 12 minutes. Add the mushroom water; the bacon and fatback; the pork butt, kielbasa, and pork shoulder; the wine; and the stock and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the pot with foil and a tight-fitting lid and braise in the oven until the meat is very tender, about 1 hour. Divide the stew between bowls, garnish with parsley, and serve.

It’s our favorite way to greet the day: a farm-fresh egg fried in olive oil until the white is crisp around the edges and the yolk is barely firm. A little coarse sea salt, a grind of black pepper, a thick slice of crusty bread, and the morning is off to a blissful start. Other times, we ask more of this elemental ingredient, whether poached and covered in hollandaise, smothered with a bright tomato salsa, or baked into a frittata topped with ricotta. So indispensable is the egg to our well-being that calling it the perfect food almost seems like an understatement.

Frittata con Ricotta e Peperoni

Main-course frittatas like this one are popular in the southern Italian region of Calabria, where traditional sheep farming is an enduring way of life and freshly made sheep’s milk ricotta is an everyday pleasure. Calabrians sometimes add sliced cured sausage to this ricotta frittata on Easter, to celebrate the end of the Lenten fast.

½ cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano

2 tbsp. roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1½ tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano

8 eggs, beaten Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 small new potato, peeled and sliced into 1/8-inch rounds

1 medium red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, and cut into ¼ -inch strips

¾ cup ricotta cheese

Serves 4–6

1. Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, whisk together
¼ cup of the Pecorino, the parsley, ½ tsp. salt, oregano, and eggs and season with black pepper. Set the egg mixture aside.

2. Heat the oil in a 10-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining salt and the onions and potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and soft, about 20 minutes.

3. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the egg mixture to the skillet and stir to distribute the onions and potatoes evenly. Scatter the peppers over the top, spoon the ricotta over the mixture in 6 dollops, and sprinkle with the remaining Pecorino. Bake until the frittata is lightly browned on top and the center is set, about 15 minutes. Run a rubber spatula around the edges of the frittata to loosen it, then slide it onto a serving plate. Season with more black pepper, if you like, cut into wedges, and serve.

No one knows for sure where the name “Eggs Benedict” came from, but most accounts trace this dish’s invention to Delmonico’s, an iconic Gilded Age restaurant in New York City. It has since become an American brunch classic, and no wonder. The combination of poached eggs, creamy hollandaise, and Canadian bacon on a toasted English muffin manages to be elegant and comforting at the same time.

2 cups distilled white vinegar

2½ tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste

1 tbsp. canola oil

8 slices Canadian bacon

3 egg yolks

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

¼ tsp. Tabasco

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

8 eggs, cracked into separate small bowls

4 English muffins, split and lightly toasted Paprika or cayenne pepper, for garnish

Serves 4

1. Bring 16 cups of water to a boil in a tall 6-qt. saucepan over high heat. Add the vinegar and 2 tsp. salt, lower heat to medium, and bring to a simmer.

2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, turning once, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat.

3. Combine the egg yolks, lemon juice, Tabasco, 4 tsp. warm water, and the remaining salt in a blender. Blend at medium speed while slowly drizzling in the melted butter to make the hollandaise. Transfer to a bowl, cover with foil, and set aside.

4. Swirl the simmering vinegar water with a spoon to create a whirlpool. Carefully slide each egg into the water and poach until just firm, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to a paper towel–lined plate.

5. Divide the toasted muffin halves between 4 plates and top each half with 1 slice of the reserved bacon and 1 poached egg. Spoon about 3 tbsp. hollandaise over each egg, sprinkle with paprika or cayenne, and serve.