Don't you love it when you see a recipe that you want to make,
and know that you have all of the ingredients on hand? This is where I found
myself last Wednesday while paging through the food section of the
Post-Dispatch, spotting a recipe for black bean soup served by a popular
eatery in the city called Fountain on Locust. Or, at least I thought
I had all the ingredients. As it turned out, I only had one can of black beans,
because I’d used the other can in a dip that I’ll be telling you about later.
As long as I didn't have two cans of black beans, I decided to use one can of
black beans and one can of cannellini beans. Then, I realized that I didn't
have enough homemade chicken stock, so I decided, what the heck, I'll just use
4 teaspoons of ham soup base dissolved in 4 cups of water. Then I thought, huh, I
have a ham bone in the freezer, so why not toss it in for good measure?
I knew I wasn't going to stand in front of the stove for all of
this -- I didn't want to be bothered with that -- so I threw everything into
the crockpot. It turned out to be wonderful soup the way I made it, but I'm
sure it's equally as good the way Fountain on Locust makes it as well. The original recipe is
below, and it's vegetarian; if you don't mind eating meat and you’d like to try
my version, just replace one can of black beans with cannellini, use ham stock,
and toss it all into the crockpot with a ham bone. (I let it go on “low” all day
long, so about 8 to 10 hours. At the 4-hour spot, I removed the ham bone, cut
off the ham, diced it, and added it back into the crockpot, and continued to
let it cook until I was ready for dinner.) I garnished with sour cream, diced avocado, diced tomatoes, black olives, and cilantro. It was a meal in a bowl!
Tasty!
Cuban
Black Bean Soup From Fountain on Locust
As
appeared in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
2
tablespoons olive oil
½ medium
green pepper, seeded and dice
½ yellow or
white onion — not sweet — peeled and diced
½ cup diced
carrot piece
1 ½
teaspoons minced garlic
2
(15-ounce) cans black beans, approximately 4 cups, drained and rinsed
4 cups
vegetable broth
1 cup
crushed tomatoes
¾ teaspoon
ground cumin
½ to 1
teaspoon red pepper flakes, to taste
½ teaspoon ground
black pepper
¼ teaspoon chili
powder
1
tablespoon malt vinegar
2 cups
cooked rice
½ cup sour
cream (optional)
Notes: At the Fountain on Locust, most
soups are made a day ahead of serving to allow the flavors to blend.
• The
Fountain serves this soup over rice and garnishes it with sour cream. The soup
is vegetarian; vegan if no sour cream is added.
1. Pour olive oil into a large 4-
or 5-quart heavy-bottom pan. Swirl to coat the bottom, then place over
medium-high heat until the oil begins to shimmer.
2. Add chopped green pepper,
onions, carrots and roasted red peppers, stir to blend, reduce heat to medium
and cook until vegetables begin to soften. Add minced garlic, stir, and cook 1
minute longer.
3. Add drained and rinsed beans,
broth, tomatoes, cumin, red pepper flakes, black pepper and chili powder. Stir
to blend and simmer until done. If needed, add more broth to the soup to
achieve desired consistency.
4. Remove from heat and allow to
cool a little. Stir in the malt vinegar.
5. Divide rice evenly into bowls.
Ladle soup over the rice. If desired, add a dollop of sour cream for garnish
and serve.
Yield: 6
large servings or 8 medium bowls
This post is linked
to:
