Hearty Tuscan Bean Stew

1. Dissolve 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts cold water in large bowl or container. Add beans and soak at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours. Drain and rinse well.
2. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 250 degrees. Heat oil and pancetta in Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pancetta is lightly browned and fat has rendered, 6 to 10 minutes. Add onion, carrots, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and lightly browned, 10 to 16 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in broth, water, bay leaves, and soaked beans. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until beans are almost tender (very center of beans will still be firm), 45 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Remove pot from oven and stir in kale and tomatoes. Return pot to oven and continue to cook until beans and greens are fully tender, 30 to 40 minutes longer.
4. Remove pot from oven and submerge rosemary in stew. Cover and let stand 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves and rosemary and season stew with salt and pepper to taste. If desired, use back of spoon to press some beans against side of pot to thicken stew. Serve over toasted bread, if desired, and drizzle with olive oil.

HEARTY TUSCAN BEAN STEW WITH SAUSAGE AND CABBAGE
This variation has much more meat and is made with crinkly savoy cabbage.
Substitute 1-1⁄2 pounds sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, for pancetta; 1⁄2 head savoy cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces, for kale; and 1 sprig fresh oregano for rosemary. Cook sausage in oil in step 2, breaking meat into small pieces with wooden spoon until it loses its raw color, about 8 minutes. Transfer sausage to paper towel–lined plate and place in refrigerator. Proceed with recipe as directed, stirring sausage and cabbage into stew along with tomatoes in step 3.

VEGETARIAN HEARTY TUSCAN BEAN STEW
Omit pancetta, substituting 3 cups vegetable broth for the chicken broth, and increase water to 4-1⁄2 cups. Microwave 1⁄2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms with 1⁄2 cup water in covered bowl until steaming, about 1 minute. Let stand until the mushrooms soften, about 5 minutes. Drain mushrooms through fine-mesh strainer lined with coffee filter, reserve liquid, and mince mushrooms. Stir mushrooms and reserved liquid into broth in step 2.

QUICK HEARTY TUSCAN BEAN STEW
To speed up this recipe, we used canned beans and cooked the stew completely on the stovetop.
Replace dried cannellini beans with 4 (15-ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well. Skip step 1 and omit oven instructions from the recipe. Reduce amount of chicken broth to 3 cups and water amount to 2 cups.