Ribollita

by Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal Spray, blah blah

Rating: 3

Mmmm. Looks good right? I confess, if I hadn't been on a diet I wouldn't have given this the time of day. It's beans and cabbage spooned onto stale bread: this is one low-spec meal. Nevertheless, one side effect of sensory deprivation is lowered standards and so I started eyeing up the picture in the book with the saucer-eyes of the hungry.

This, despite the fact that even HUGH calls it peasant food. But peasant food from Italy! Well, that's different then. Italians know their food. I can only imagine this is because they spend half their day preparing it because that's how long this "store cupboard supper" took. I had to soak the beans overnight, then cook them for an hour and a half, and then boil them up for another HOUR with the rest of the soup ingredients.

To me this reeks of poor project management. Why not just put the beans in the soup raw and let all the ingredients cook at the same time? I know you're asking me to puree half of them before chucking them in but this is what hand blenders were invented for. This soup can easily be achieved in half the time. There you are, Italy: I've just doubled your productivity. I hope it helps your economy.

I think, had I wasted less time on this slop, I would be less critical of it because it really didn't taste bad. It was satisfying and warming and all those soupy things. I also learnt a brilliant instant garlic bread tip: just wipe your toast with a clove of garlic and give it a sniff. Do it! It will REEK. Couldn't believe how effective that was.

Bread aside though, what I have just consumed is basically cabbage water, and the last thing you want to be reminded of when you're on a calorie controlled diet is that you're eating the same food as Charlie Bucket did before he found the golden ticket. The only circumstances under which I'll make this again is if I'm really really skint.