Sunday Black-Bean Soup
- Total Time
- 3 hours 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1pound dried black beans
- ½pound bacon, preferably nitrite-free
- 3cups chicken stock
- 1 to 2tablespoons canola or corn oil
- 4coarsely chopped carrots
- 3coarsely chopped onions
- 3coarsely chopped celery ribs
- ½ to 1fresh jalapeno pepper or 1 3½- to 4-ounce can mild jalapenos, minced
- 3finely chopped garlic cloves
- 1teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt to taste
- 1pound spicy sausage (see note)
- 1cup dry sherry
- Juice from ½ to 1 lime
- 5tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, optional
Preparation
- Step 1
To soak beans quickly, cover them with generous amount of water, cover pot, bring water to boil and boil 2 minutes. Remove cover and allow beans to sit in the liquid for one hour. Drain.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, slice meaty part of bacon from fat. Discard fat.
- Step 3
When beans are ready to cook, add meaty bacon to beans along with chicken stock and enough water to cover generously; cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer.
- Step 4
In hot oil, saute carrots, onions, celery, jalapeno, garlic and cumin until onions are golden. When vegetables are ready, add to pot of beans. If there is not enough water, add more. Cook beans 1½ to 2 hours, or until tender. Season with salt, if desired.
- Step 5
Just before beans are ready, cook sausage; slice into small chunks.
- Step 6
Drain the bean mixture and reserve cooking liquid. Puree beans and vegetables, using some of the reserved liquid to make a thick soup. Return to cooking pot. Stir in sherry and lime juice. Add more reserved liquid, if necessary, and reheat to serve.
- Step 7
Divide sausage chunks among bowls, and spoon soup into each bowl. Sprinkle with cilantro.
- The sausage usually served with black bean soup is chorizo. If it is not available or you prefer sausage with less fat, some stores carry a well-seasoned smoked turkey kielbasa. Some sausages are also available without nitrites.
- If you want to make a complete meal out of the soup, either serve larger portions, add rice to the bowl to make a stew or round out the meal with some crusty bread.
Private Notes
Comments
Works best, imho, if beans are soaked overnight as opposed to "quick soak" as described in step 1. Recommend choosing bacon or sausage as both is 'too much'; we used sausage. (Mexican chorizo not Spanish.) Lots of flavor in soup so water works instead of chicken broth. Prefer simmering sherry in soup for about 20 minutes or so to soften it. Then add lime juice at end for fresh acid 'zing'. Good day of making. Better day or two later. Freezes well.
Like many soups and stews, this one tastes even better as a leftover. Good even without the sausage.
This soup was a disaster. Beans took forever to cook, I kept adding more and more liquid, then of course it needed more liquid in offer to puree. I certainly liked the idea of all the flavors and used up a bunch of homemade broth. Nope will never try this one again.
Works best, imho, if beans are soaked overnight as opposed to "quick soak" as described in step 1. Recommend choosing bacon or sausage as both is 'too much'; we used sausage. (Mexican chorizo not Spanish.) Lots of flavor in soup so water works instead of chicken broth. Prefer simmering sherry in soup for about 20 minutes or so to soften it. Then add lime juice at end for fresh acid 'zing'. Good day of making. Better day or two later. Freezes well.
Like many soups and stews, this one tastes even better as a leftover. Good even without the sausage.
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