cook: is ribollita with pork and swiss chard then tuscan pork and bean and vegetable stew?

Not too long ago, I had cooked a pork loin and cannellini bean stew with mainly celery and carrots as the vegetables. The stew was delicious, but needed more green vegetables. And so when I watched a Martha Stewart cooking video of a vegetarian white bean and green vegetables, it drew me at the start because of bread grilled in sage and olive oil and then rubbed with a raw garlic clove to sit in the bottom of the bowl before the soup/stew was spooned on top. This ribollita recipe would also integrate a huge bunch of Swiss chard Patrick had harvested that had also been the vegetable side to our steak and baked potatoes dinner. Serious Eats likewise outlined the history and cooking steps to ribollita, and their recipe looked even more scrumptious. Don't forget to grate Parmesan cheese at the finish. 

Serious Eats also recommends riffing on the hearty Tuscan stew to your own tastes and seasonal ingredients, and I did. I also had Italian sausage left from my lasagna making as well as fennel and leek in my fridge as well as rosemary and sage and thyme from the herb garden. So I opine that this is not traditionally Italian, but maybe a bit French too with that leek in the stew.     

I had soaked the dried Borlotti beans the day before and wowie did they double in size. I got them boiling right away in their soaking water and a jar of bone broth because I knew this soup would need a couple hours of cooking time.

I added leftover cooked Italian sausage which was not enough, more raw Italian sausage outside of the casing and crumbled, Better than Bouillon chicken stock just in case for more flavor, and leftover bacon bits to my mise en place. I started sautéing the onions and leeks and then garlic in olive oil and chile oil.

 

After at least 5 minutes, I could then add the raw Italian sausage and then the chopped Swiss chard stems and carrots.

 

Next the boiled beans, broth and all. I added more water too. Once beans were no longer al dente, I could add the chopped Swiss chard.

 

I just love all the colors in this soup so far.

I could have added the greens at the last 2 minutes rather than 5 minutes of cooking, but I was also getting the garlic toast in the oven.

Patrick declared dinner delicious, and I had remembered to sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. If I'd had a rind of Parmesan, that would have sent the soup over the top, but luckily the bone broth added a lot of depth of flavor.