Basic Black Bean Soup

One of my resolutions for 2010 was to master the art of cooking with dried beans. After much experimentation, I'm not sure if I've mastered it, but I'm definitely more comfortable with the process. Granted, I still keep many a can of prepared beans in my pantry for emergencies, but I think the dried bean and I are now friends, too.

Here's my favorite way to prepare dry beans. Put them in a pot covered with water. Bring them to a boil. Turn off the heat and leave them tightly covered to sit for one hour. This is the quick method and I've found it very useful for slow cooker recipes.

This Black Bean Soup is one of my favorites. It's healthy (until you add cheese, sour cream, and tortilla strips), full of wonderful flavor, and cooks up in a jiffy!

I'd post a photo for it, but it isn't the prettiest dish and I can't seem to do it justice with my camera. JUST TRUST ME!

Black Bean Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 T ground cumin

¼-1 tsp crushed red pepper

2 T vegetable oil

3-16 oz cans black beans, undrained

½ cup chicken broth

3 cups salsa

2 T lime juice

Cook onion, garlic, cumin, and red pepper in olive oil. Blend to puree 2 cans of beans with liquid and broth. Add to pot. Stir in last can of beans, salsa, and lime juice. Serve over rice with sour cream and cheese.

Ham and White Bean Soup

Cook a ham for Christmas and if you're at our house you'll wind up with that whole hunk of meat at the end of it that doesn't get spiral cut and is just hard to deal with. In the past I have feebly hacked away at it, winding up eventually throwing much of it away. This time I was determined to not waste it, so I looked around on line at a few different soup recipes, and then opened up my trusty Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (you know, that classic red and white checkered one), and loosely followed their recipe. Alan declared it one of his favorite soups, and that's saying something. This was also one of my very few attempts at cooking beans from scratch and I'm pleased to say that they came out well. This is the sort of soup that you should plan ahead, starting it around 4 hours before you plan to eat it if you're cooking the beans from dry. If you're going to use canned, an hour is sufficient.

Ham and White Bean Soup

3 cups dry Great Northern Beans

pinch of baking soda

1/2 t. ginger

water as directed below

1 yellow or white onion, diced

3 celery ribs, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. olive oil

ham bone with a generous amount of meat left on it

2 bay leaves

1 T. fresh thyme leaves or 1 t. dried

3 cups carrot "pennies"

1/2-1 t. liquid smoke to taste

1/4-1/2 t. tabasco to taste

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Place washed and sorted beans in a 4 quart pot and add 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil, simmer for 2 minutes, then turn off and let soak for 1 hour. Drain and add another 8 cups of water, along with the pinch of baking soda and ginger (these are supposed to help reduce digestive issues associated with eating beans), and bring to a simmer. In a large nonstick skillet, heat up the olive oil, and add in the celery, onion and garlic. Saute until softened, then add to the beans. While the skillet is still hot, fry the hunk of ham bone on all sides until lightly browned, then add it to the pot. Add in the bay leaves and thyme and let simmer for 1 hour. Add in the carrot pennies and simmer for another 20 minutes. Remove the ham bone and the meat should fall off easily at this point and allow for easy shredding. Add a little more water if needed. Add the shredded meat back into the pot and season with liquid smoke (go easy - a little goes a long way), tabasco, salt and pepper to your taste.