Recipe: Black Bean Soup

I cooked for the first 28 years of my life straight from recipes, so it always feels like an accomplishment at this point in my life to be able to stray a little. (This doesn't work for everything in my cooking life yet, but it definitely works for soups.) The following is my hodge podge for black bean soup that I cobbled together after scouring the Internet for recipes and then picking and choosing what I like best. Here goes:

Ingredients
4-6 pieces of bacon
3-4 chopped pickled jalapeno peppers*
2 1/2-3 cans black beans
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 chopped medium onion
4 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 squeezed lime
1/2 cup sour cream
fresh cilantro
1 avocado

*You could substitute a can of chilis for the jalapeno peppers--these jalapeno peppers are just what I happened to pick up. I didn't use the whole can and I left out the carrots (gross). A WORD OF WARNING: it turns out that when you saute jalapeno peppers, you create a smoke that's the equivalent of pepper spray. Pepper spray. Seriously. It's pretty strong. If you lean over the pan while you're sauteing the peppers with the bacon and happen to inhale some of the smoke (hypothetically, of course), much coughing and weeping and gnashing of teeth will ensue. The flavor is worth it, but you've been warned.

Directions

• Saute 4-6 pieces bacon in bottom of soup pot.
• Add 3 chopped pickled jalapeno peppers to the pot (see warning above!) and saute with the bacon.
• Once the bacon is crispy, remove it from the pan and drain it on a paper towel.
• MEANWHILE, while you're sauteing these ingredients, you're blending. Blend 1 can beans, 2 cups chicken broth in the blender. Add the drained bacon and blend some more.
• Back to the soup pot, add 1 chopped medium onion and 4 cloves minced garlic to the mix.
• Pour blender contents into the pot.
• Add 2 cans black beans (with the can juice).
• Stir in 1/2 tsp. ground cumin and the juice of half a lime.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer for 25 minutes, uncovered.
• MEANWHILE, for the topping, chop some cilantro and mix it up with the sour cream.
• When the soup is finish, dish into bowls and top each bowl with a dollop of the sour cream mixture and some chopped avocado.

Serve, enjoy!

This makes a pretty thick soup. If you like your soups thinner, definitely add more chicken stock (most of the recipes I saw called for more liquid). If you like your soups even thicker, add some more beans and/or cut back on the amount of chicken broth used.

photo credit: cookbookman17