descent into dessert

Beans are totally my number one comfort food.  They work for all seasons, and I love love love this particular spicy, tangy, summery soup.  This is why I was having so much fun soaking beans, but Meg’s made the soup with canned beans and it’s turned out thicker, almost like a bean spread, which is equally delicious.  I think using orange juice as the base for the soup is what really makes it excellent, but this is generally an amazing soup.  It’s from the Moosewood Cookbook, which is one of my go-to books.

• 2 cups black beans, soaked
• 6 cups water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cups chopped onion
• 10 medium cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 1 medium bell pepper, diced
• 1 1/2 cups orange juice
• pepper, to taste
• cayenne, to taste
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• handful of chopped cilantro

Once the beans are re-hydrated, put them in a pot with 4 cups of water, bring them to a boil, cover, and simmer for about an hour and a half.  Heat the olive oil and add the onion, half the garlic, the cumin, salt, and carrots.  Saute over medium heat until the carrots are tender.  Add the remaining garlic and the bell pepper.  Saute until everything is very tender, for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Add the sauteed mixture to the beans.  Stir in the orange juice, black pepper, cayenne, cilantro and tomatoes.  Simmer.  Puree the mixture until it reaches a consistency you like. (I prefer mine very pureed, which is weird because I usually enjoy a chunky soup.  I also hope to never use the word “chunky” on this site again.)  I add diced avocado to the soup, for extra delicious.

I’ve been loving this soup this week, it’s been a great lunch while I’ve been reading microfilm at the library.  My friends have noticed that this hasn’t been a busy week for me, but that’s just because I’ve been testing my recipes for tomorrow’s Iron Chefnic!  For Lindsay’s birthday, she’s organized a food competition in the park.  I am really in it to win it this year, but instead of a secret ingredient, the theme is “spring.”  Very exciting, but very broad: so many possibilities!