Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Cuban Black Beans & Black Bean Soup

I love when the leftovers of one meal naturally lend themselves to become part of the next nights meal. This Cuban Black Bean recipe into Black Bean Soup is a great example of this.

Cuban Black Beans
Combine the following:
1 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced

Cook 2 minutes over medium heat and then add in:
2 tsp chili powder

Cook for 1 minute stirring constantly. Add in:
4 cups cooked black beans
a pinch of sugar
1 bay leaf
3-4 cups water, enough to cover beans

Simmer over low heat uncovered for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf and add:
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce

Use a slotted spoon to serve this over rice with salsa.

This recipe inevitably leaves you with a lot of leftover broth, as well as some beans, a bit of rice and a bit of salsa.

Black Bean Soup
In a medium sized pot I combined all the leftovers from the above meal (broth, beans, rice, salsa and any veggies I have served with it)

Add:
chopped carrots
cilantro
container of tomato paste
1-2 tsp of powdered vegetable broth

I heated this until the carrots were tender and viola, super simple black bean soup.

6 comments:

Harmonia said...

Sounds FAB! I'm back bloggin' incase I forgot to mention before...same place.

Happy Tuesday!

Katie said...

Thanks Harmonia, welcome back to blogging.

AnnMarie said...

Having bought some cheap beans at the bargain grocery store, then finding out I had even more than I'd thought at home, we made this last night. To our surprise, my DH loved it and I thought it horridly bland. I did forget the salsa, however, and he added plenty of hot sauce to his (he likes things far hotter than I). He says it's a keeper--and this is one of the few recipes I've tried that he likes when I didn't! We'll have to play with the spices a bit to warm it up a bit for me.

Katie said...

Annmarie,

I agree that without salsa this recipe is pretty bland. At the same time its that blandness that makes it easy to personalize for everyone at my table (some like extra garlic powder, some like extra hot sauce, I like a ton of salsa on top.)

mustardseed said...

I need to link you!!

Nice recipes, I think they're great without all the expensive stuff like Earth Balance and Tofutti and all the processed stuff.

If this is too bland for my tastebuds I can always add more spices! Thanks!

Katie said...

Glad you like the recipes. I try to keep it within a budget and things like Earth Balance and Tofutti make that a challenge. Welcome aboard!