Tag Archives: black bean

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Black Bean Soup

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18

There was a time in my life when I wasn’t a super fan of black beans.

I don’t know what I was thinking. In my defense, it was during my headstrong, misguided youth days…I really don’t think we should be held accountable for once being teens. It’s a confusing time, okay? and, now, we know better…right?

Anyway, memories of misguided youth aside, I am a big fan of black beans now and black bean soup is one of my current favorites. Starting with dried beans takes some time, so make this on a weekend. The pot of beans simmers for hours with a few, lightly charred aromatics and makes your house smell like savory magic. Such a humble bean packs SO MUCH FLAVOR. It’s just all about dried-bean-alchemy over here.

Black Bean Soup

I start with dried beans here, I think it really is worth the effort, but I bet you could adapt this with canned beans and have this soup in a fraction of the time. Dried beans can be fickle and depending on how old they are, they can take as little as 2 hours, up to 6 or more to become tender. If you want to go the OG route, and you forget to pre-soak your legumes the night before (I often do), just start an hour earlier and put your beans in a pot, boil, cover with a tight fitting lid, turn off that heat, and let it sit for an hour. Viola! Pre-soaked beans. Boom. This recipe is fine with languishing on the stove for hours, and reheats wonderfully as well. 

8 ounces dried black beans

water to cover

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed (leave some in for some heat), and roughly chopped

1/2 onion, roughly chopped

1 small shallot, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, smashed

kosher salt, to taste

1-2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock, to thin.

Garnishes: Avocado, cheese, sour cream, onions, tomatoes, radishes, cilantro, and crisp tortillas are all favorites.

The night before, place the beans in a bowl and cover with a few inches of water. In the morning drain the beans and set aside.

In the pot you would like to cook the soup in, heat olive oil over high heat, once the oil begins to shimmer, add the jalapeño, onion, and shallot, cook over high heat until some of the edges get dark brown and the vegetables begin to soften. Reduce the heat, add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute, stirring so as not to burn the garlic. Add the beans and enough water to cover by about 2 inches. Bring the beans to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Add salt to taste, and continue to simmer 1-3 more hours, checking water level (don’t let it boil off completely)–until beans are very tender.

Remove from heat and using an immersion blender (or a regular blender) blend the soup, adding stock to thin to desired consistency. Reheat to a simmer before serving. Garnish as desired.

 

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Recipe…Method? Black Beans

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10

Are you a dried bean evangelist?

No?

Me neither.

I usually just go the canned route. I don’t usually think that far ahead.

This week though, I totally did. I was at the store doing some grocery shopping and decided to go for the dried beans.

I was just feeling ambitious is all, and guess what?

It really wasn’t all that technical.

Plus, those dried black beans were so tiny and dainty…I couldn’t resist!

I mean, soak some beans in cold water over night and throw ‘em in a pan with some other tasty goods, simmer, and done.

After the soaking those beans were a little more plump, shiny, and oh-so-pretty.

Yeah, I said it, black beans = pretty.

There’s really not a lot of hands-on happening here, just time and a little bit of forethought.

Who knew?

Lots of people I’m sure, but not me.

Now, I do though, and I feel all fancy-pants about it.

Learnin’ stuff everyday…

So, put on your fancy-pants one of these days and try it out.

Water, beans, salt, garlic, onion, a little cilantro, and jalapeno turn into a delicious, bean studded elixer and you’ll wonder why you never attempted this whole dried bean thing before.

You won’t regret it, I promise! ‘Cause when those humble, dried beans are bubbling away you’ll know some kind of magic is happening in that pot.

Simple Black Beans

So, this isn’t really a recipe, just a basic method on how to cook up some dried black beans.

You could really do this with any dried bean, in whatever quantity you want. You can also make this even simpler and cut down on the extra ingredients–like, if you happen to be adverse to cilantro or spicy things, you can just skip out on those. You could even add different herbs and dried spices (oregano! cumin!). You could even use stock, but I think water works just fine…those beans have their own flavor. Do what you want.

the night before:

1 cup dried black beans

Place 1 cup of black beans in a large bowl and cover with water. Make sure there are at least 2 inches of water over your beans as they will absorb a lot of it.

get cookin’:

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1/2 of a large, yellow onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, smashed

a few sprigs of fresh cilantro

soaked beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

a big pinch of salt, to taste

At this point you can either drain your beans of the soaking liquid (I did) or use it to cook with.

In a medium sauce pot or in a deep, covered pan (I used an enameled, cast-iron braiser) place beans, olive oil, jalapeno, onion, garlic, and cilantro into your pan. Cover completely with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. At this point, add your salt. Cook an additional 30 minutes to 2+ hours. My beans were tender after about 1 1/2 hours, but it really depends on how old your dried beans are. Start checking the beans for doneness after about 1 hour.

I implore you not to pour off the cooking liquid. It is an elixer of the bean gods. The bean liquid is SO, SO delicious. I left mine in the pan and mashed the beans with the liquid…liked refried beans without the refrying! You could also leave the beans whole, bathed in the cooking liquid…it has a TON of flavor, so don’t waste it!