A challenge: The perfect black bean soup

[kwormann]

Now, this might be difficult as we all have different ideas of perfect. Let me tell you what I am looking for.

Last week I had black bean soup at a restaurant. It didnt have tomatoes in it, just beans and spices. The catch??? it was THICK!!! I just made a soup. It is good, but not right. It is runnier than I want and has tomatoes in it. I need to make a black bean soup like I had. Any thoughts/recipes?

The challenge is ON!

[Tally]

This may be obvious, but one of the tricks to a thick black bean soup is to puree part of it, either by removing a cup or two to blend and add back in, or by giving it a quick go-round with an immersion blender in the pot.

Sauteed bacon, ham or ham base also adds thickness. I have a great recipe for black bean chili, and one of the main ingredients is bacon. (Of course, this is not exactly light! :) )

[kwormann]

Good thought. I will try that. Any other ideas or recipes? I want it to be vegetarian:)

[Gina O]

Kim-

I am making a Cuban Black Bean Soup tonight for supper club (we are doing a Carribean theme). I am using a recipe from a Carribean cookbook. The recipe has no tomatoes. It has bacon (just 2 strips) and says it can be omitted.

I will give you a full report on how it turns out (I've not prepared it before.) Gina

[guavagirl]

we make a outrageously lip-smacking and easy black bean soup using a recipe from Real Simple magazine. to thicken, we also puree some of the beans before adding. ... and then serve it with sage cornbread.

[Jen]

Again, this may be too obvious, but have you tried the Instant Black Bean soup from a year or two ago? (It's also in the Superfast supplement). I was dubious - it uses the whole cans of beans, including the black goo (no rinsing) - but it was really great. The black goo actually gives it a lot of thickness and body. Maybe you could try adapting that recipe by adding some tomatoes, etc.? (That is, if my repeated use of the term "black goo" hasn't entirely turned you off!! :D )

[kwormann]

Gina, Id love to hear how it is!

Guavagirl,I must have missed that recipe (I get Real Simple). I looked on the website...is this it?
black bean soup

I used to make this soup with dried beans, which required soaking. But once, in a pinch, I resorted to canned. I'll never go back to dry.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 large stalk celery, chopped (3/4 cup)
1 large carrot, chopped (3/4 cup)
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 15 1/2-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
Juice from 1 lime
1 tablespoon tomato paste
Salt
Sour cream, salsa, and cilantro (for serving)


In a large stockpot, heat the oil, onion, and garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the cumin and cook 1 minute. Add the celery, carrot, stock, and beans. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and tomato paste. To thicken soup, puree the beans in a blender or food processor and return to pot. Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve with sour cream, salsa, and cilantro.


The picture looks AWESOME!!!!


Jen, is this the CL recipe you spoke of?
Ingredients
2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added black beans, undrained
1/2 cup bottled salsa
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 (16-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
5 tablespoons low-fat sour cream
5 tablespoons minced green onions
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro


Directions
Prep Time: 3 minutes
Cooking Time: 17 minutes


Place beans and liquid in a medium saucepan; partially mash beans with a potato masher. Place over high heat; stir in salsa, chili powder, and broth. Bring to a boil. Ladle soup into bowls; top with cheese, sour cream, onions, and cilantro.



If so, Looks good too! I will be busy for awhile!

Thanks you guys!

[kima]

I want to be vegetarian:)

You Go Girl!!:)
Also (besides wanting to practice quoting!!) I wanted to second The Real Simple recipe. It is excellent (and Thick). Real Simple does have good recipes- but of course nothing like CL!!:)

[guavagirl]

kwormann --

that's the recipe! due to my vegetarianism, we use veggie broth, and the soup still rocks (no surprise there).

... the screwball part of this is that this came from an issue i found on a plane! you never know where inspiration lives.

guava

[LaraW]

This is a soup that we make a couple of times a month:

From Simply Colorado

Boulder Black Bean Soup

2 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried whole oregano
1/2 tsp dried whole thyme
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 C canned black beans, rinsed and drained (2 cans)
3 C low sodium chicken broth (can use vegetable instead)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 C onion, chopped (optional)
1/2 C reduced fat shredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until tender (about 5 minutes). Stir in oregano, thyme, cumin and cayenne; cook one minute longer. Put 1/2 of beans in a blender and puree until smooth adding enough broth as necessary to make a smooth puree. Add puree, remaining whole beans, and broth to saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat then simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes. Served garnished wtih chopped tomatoes, onion and cheese.

8 servings, serving size 1 cup

[kwormann]

Lara, now I will have to try THREE different soups! :D

Maureen, you are doing GREAT with your quotes!:)

[Gina O]

I won't be able to do a complete supper club review until I have the names of all the recipes we made, but as for the soup... the consensus was several thumbs up. Of course, the recipe was significantly altered in ingredients and technique, but here is what I did, and how it turned out.

Cuban Black Bean Soup (as altered by Gina)

20 ounces black beans, soaked overnight and rinsed)
2 cans chicken broth with garlic
2 cans vegetable broth
additional water to equal 7 cups liquid
olive oil
1 1/2 onions minced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons cilantro, minced
4 whole cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
2 carrots, sliced
2 stalks of celery, sliced
1/3 cup dry sherry
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon orange zest
juice of one lime
2 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)
light sour cream
cilantro for garnish

In a heavy stock pot, place the beans, stock and water, bring to a boil. Simmer for approximately one hour, uncovered.

In a small skillet, saute the onion, garlic, herbs and spices in the olive oil until the onion is clear. Add to the pot along with all other ingredients except sour cream and cilantro. Simmer for an additional hour.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream and cilantro leaves.

Yeild: 8-10 servings

I cooked the beans covered at first, but it was remaining a little too runny so I took the lid off. If after cooking it gets too thick, add additional water. I also cooked it for an hour, took it for an hour car ride, then cooked it for at least another hour..... probably not the easiest technique, but it seems to work.

This was thick, rich and the vegetables held up very nicely. It had a slightly citrusy flavor which was very tasty. I will definitely make this again. Gina

[SusanT]

Could the secret restuarant ingredient be cream? Restaurants use a lot of butter and cream and cream would make a soup thick.

[kwormann]

Originally posted by SusanT
Could the secret restuarant ingredient be cream? Restaurants use a lot of butter and cream and cream would make a soup thick.

I certainly HOPE not!

Thanks Gina. It looks good also!

[makedah]

I'm reading this thread intently. I used to love Nile Soups Black Bean Soup (add water), but something has happened in their factories or distribution points because for months the beans have been hard, little black pebbles which make mud, not soup!!! So I'd love to find a recipe for spicy black bean soup. I'm not a vegetarian, but this soup was.

[tovie]

I go with Tally's suggestion of pureeing part of the beans... and then suggest cooking it for a very long time, until it gets as thick as you want.

I make black bean soup from dried beans, only I puree all the beans (and onions and stuff) with the cooking liquid once they're tender and then just cook it for hours and hours on low on the back of the stove until it's a lovely thick soup. Depending on how much cooking liquid there is, it'll start out fairly runny but the longer you cook it, the thicker it'll get. I forgot about it once and ended up with something the equivalent of really thick refried beans (g)

[Deanna]

Oh thank you Lara W for the Boulder Black Bean Soup!

I had some cooked black beans left over from last weekend's cooking and made up a pot of your BBB soup. It was wonderful and definitely will be made again. I like the mix of seasonings -- oregano, thyme, cumin and cayenne. Very tasty.

I'm serving some of this morning's biscuits along with -- and calling them "large oyster crackers" (if you get my drift...)

Thanks again for a great contribution.

Deanna