Spiced Black Bean Soup
Submitted by gtcow
Italian-leaning spiced black bean soup with basil, oregano, marjoram, and a finish of sherry and lemon. Pureed silky-smooth. High-fibre, gluten-free, garnished with chives and nonfat sour cream.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
2½READY
3 hrsSpiced black bean soup takes the standard pureed black bean soup in a Mediterranean direction. Where most black bean soups lean on cumin and chile, this one calls on basil, oregano, and marjoram, the holy trinity of Italian herb cookery. Combined with black beans, tomato, and sherry, the result tastes more like a Tuscan ribollita than a Cuban black bean stew.
The finishing acids matter here. A tablespoon and a half of fresh lemon juice plus 5 ½ tablespoons of dry sherry brighten the long-cooked beans and lift the herbs. A splash of apple cider vinegar to taste at the end fine-tunes the sharpness. Together they keep the soup from going one-note despite the long simmer.
A full overnight soak followed by 2 to 2 ½ hours of simmering breaks down the beans completely, which is what allows for the silky pureed texture. Pull the bay leaves before blending. Whole bay in the blender turns into bitter shards.
Garnish each bowl with a generous spoon of nonfat sour cream and a scatter of fresh chives or green onion tops. The cool tang against the warm spiced soup is what completes the dish.
Pro Tips
- Use dried herbs as the recipe calls. Their oils concentrate over the long simmer in a way fresh herbs can’t match here.
- Add the canned tomatoes only after the beans are tender. Acid in tomatoes slows bean softening if added too early.
- A quality dry sherry like fino or amontillado adds the best depth. Avoid sweet cooking sherry which throws off the flavor.
- This is a make-ahead soup. The flavors deepen overnight and reheating is gentle.
Variations
Ingredients
Directions
Soak the black beans in the 6 cups of water overnight in a large pot.
Drain the soaking water and refill soup pot with the 7 cups of ff chicken broth (you can also use vegetable broth) then add and cook for 2 to 2½ hours until beans are soft the tomatoes, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, basil, marjoram then add the lemon juice, sherry and apple cider vinegar to taste for a sharper flavor.
Salt and pepper to taste. Now I have not tried this yet but I think that I would add the tomatoes after the beans were soft.
Then remove the bay leaves and blend soup in food processor or blender.
Return to soup pot and reheat and serve garnishing each bowl with ½- 1 tablespoon of nonfat sour cream and ½ teaspoon chives or green onion tops.
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