Cucina povera, as so much of the cooking in Italy is, too often is translated too literally: poor kitchen. But that’s not a reflection of the food or the people who prepare it. It’s more about making delicious whatever you happen to have around.

Such is the case with the Tuscan soup known as ribollita, a robust peasant dish that makes the most of two of the humblest ingredients — beans and leftover bread. The name means “reboiled,” since this soup originally comes from reheating bean soup and adding bread. But in this recipe from our book “Milk Street Tuesday Nights,” we start from scratch and still manage to get a tasty dinner on the table in just over half an hour.