The Golden Horn: Black Bean Soup

Thursday, April 22, 2021

Black Bean Soup

This old Kinja bean soup recipe had a bunch of old pics of the kitchen and garage. And Magnum P.I. in the comments. One of the very earliest Cooking With Wu posts.

A quick, relatively simple, and spicy recipe. Note: if you have more time there is nothing wrong with starting out with dry beans and homemade stock. I make this recipe regularly because it is easy and it freezes well

3 cans low-sodium black beans (rinsed and drained)

1 box (32 oz.) low-sodium chicken broth

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1 large onion, 2 big stalks celery, 1 medium bell pepper, 4 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 smoked ham hock or ham bone

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

Bay leaf, cayenne pepper, thyme, basil, black pepper and salt.

Heat some olive oil in a big heavy pot and throw in the chopped onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic. Add salt, cayenne, black pepper. Cook for a few minutes until soft.

Add Rotel tomato, a splash of any alcohol on hand, ham hock, bay leaf, healthy pinch of thyme and basil. Let simmer for a few minutes.

Add black beans and chicken broth, one teaspoon each of cumin and chili powder, and bring up to a boil.

Simmer for one hour. Skim any grease or foam that comes to the top while cooking

Now comes the fun part if you have an immersion blender. You can take some beans out in portions and use a blender or food processor. Always be careful blending hot liquids. Some people like to leave some of the beans whole. Some people like to have the whole thing pureed smooth. I usually go pretty smooth.

Remove bay leaf and ham hock before blending. You can add a little water too before you blend if it’s too thick or too spicy. The beans will thicken up. A shot of worcestershire and hot sauce at the end of cooking will brighten flavors.

spaced99

FourFingerWu

8/09/15 5:06pm

Watching Magnum ep 1 season 2. Texas dude walks up to Rick’s club and punches one his staff. Rick is pissed. Magnum politely walks Texas dude out then knocks him on his ass before accepting him as client. That’s what I like about this show.

FourFingerWu

spaced99

8/09/15 5:16pm

Was Higgins driving his tractor? That season isn’t on Youtube. Blows. I just found out that actor went on to direct a crapload of TV. James Whitmore Jr.

spaced99

FourFingerWu

8/09/15 6:03pm

It's at the very end but yeah.

I might try to find season two this week. I haven’t seen any of those. Came across this in a folder this morning. One of my very first photos for Kinja with the Radio Shack digital camera. I semi-successfully made pancakes earlier. Finally.

spaced99

FourFingerWu

8/09/15 6:22pm

Very cool. The arrangement is alter-like. And something is cooking in the toaster oven. Baked potato?

spaced99

FourFingerWu

8/09/15 6:24pm

And that wall mounted exhaust fan is vintage shit. There are blogs dedicated to getting that grille style.

FourFingerWu

spaced99

8/09/15 6:44pm

And something is cooking in the toaster oven. Baked potato?

Good eye. That’s my famous bacon, cheese, green onion baked potato. One of my favorite things. Potato trick is to microwave three and a half minutes and then put in the toaster oven.

FourFingerWu

spaced99

8/09/15 6:46pm

I hate this kitchen but being the end unit of townhouses has the advantage of that exhaust fan. I can fry fish right there on the counter with the sliding kitchen door closed and not stink up the house.

Where are we? We’re in heaven. They got pancakes?

spaced99

FourFingerWu

8/09/15 9:48pm

Now watching s02e08, Mad Buck Gibson, with Darren McGavin.

FourFingerWu

spaced99

8/09/15 9:51pm

That may be the best Magnum. Great one. Also not online because I looked.

spaced99

FourFingerWu

8/09/15 9:53pm