Feeding the 5000 recipe by eco chef Tom Hunt: Ribollita, a traditional Tuscan soup made with leftovers

We wrote about Feeding the 5000 back in November, when the group - which is campaigning to reduce food waste in the UK and beyond - hosted a free lunch at London's Trafalgar Square to show that imperfect vegetables are still edible and make delicious meals.

One of the chefs at Feeding the 5000 was eco-chef Tom Hunt who prepared some tasty dishes for the hungry Londoners showing their support for the cause.

Tom has kindly given us the recipe for one of the dishes he made with unwanted vegetables and surplus produce to share with you. Enjoy!

Ribollita, a traditional Tuscan soup made with leftovers, perfect for cold winter evenings

Ribollita is a traditional and robust Italian dish made from leftover soup, vegetables and stale bread. This soup is incredibly versatile you can adapt the ingredients to the season and to whatever vegetables you have in your fridge.

Recipe for 10

Ingredients
1 Pig Spleen
250g Dried canellini beans or chick peas (soaked overnight and cooked for 1 hour) or 500g of cooked
½ x Heads of celery, diced
1 Bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
500g Carrots, diced
500g Red onions, diced
500g Tinned plum tomatoes or tomato sauce, chopped
5 Cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 x Old loaves of ciabatta or white sourdough, with the crusts removed and saved for croutons or crumbs
1,250g Kale ideally or cabbage, chard or broccoli

Olive oil to taste

Other additions could be beetroot, beans, leeks, beans

Method
First put your spleen into a small pot that has a lid and cover with stock veg and water. Simmer gently for 1 ½ hours till soft. Remove from the pan and leave to cool then slice.
Sauté the slices of spleen, celery, parsley, carrots and onions in a pan for 15 minutes on a low heat. Season with a little salt and add the garlic. Add the tomatoes and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Remove the stalks from the kale or chard, slice them finely and add them to the vegetables. Layer the remaining leaves together and roll them to make a cigar, then shred them with a large cook's knife and add them to the pot. Next add the beans and a little water, keeping a thick consistency. Simmer for a further 15 minutes.

Now tear the bread into clumps and add to the soup, season with fresh olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Leave for a few minutes for the bread to absorb all the flavours and soften.

The soup should be very thick, robust and flavourful. The bread makes this dish hearty and good for winter.

Check out the images below from the Feeding the 5000 event - at which Mayor of London Boris Johnson made an appearance.

Images courtesy of Tom Hunt and Feeding the 5000.