Friday, August 12, 2011

Black Bean Soup with Chipotle Chiles - no soak - in the crockpot!

The day Britta invited me to post on this blog (with a few other friends) I started a post on lentils...and then got strep throat, and insomnia, and then moved to NYC, etc. You get the picture!  For some reason my very simple lentil recipe has languished as a "draft."  So, I'm finally back on the wagon, and excited to post!

This is one of my favorite recipes. I found it on Epicurious when I bought a crockpot a year or so ago.  It's wonderful because you don't have to soak the dried beans or prepare them in any way (other than sorting and rinsing) before adding them to the crockpot.  Now, to be up front, if you aren't accustomed to eating beans fairly frequently, this lack of soaking could prove to be a bit, er, of a surprise to your system.  Many people agree that soaking, then draining the soaking water, prior to cooking with dried legumes helps to make the legumes easier to digest. So, it's your call!


Hopefully said introduction doesn't spoil the amazingly appetizing nature of this soup. 



Bon Appétit | March 2004
A dollop of yogurt adds a creamy richness and cuts the heat of the chiles.
Yield: Makes 6 main-course servings
ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium-size red onions, chopped
1 medium-size red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1 16-ounce package dried black beans
1 tablespoon chopped canned chipotle chiles*
7 cups hot water
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup chopped seeded plum tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
preparation
Heat olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and both bell peppers and sauté until beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and cumin; stir 1 minute. Transfer mixture to 6-quart slow cooker. Add beans and chipotles, then 7 cups hot water. Cover and cook on high until beans are very tender, about 6 hours. Transfer 2 cups bean mixture to blender; puree until smooth. Return puree to remaining soup in slow cooker. Stir in lime juice, salt, and pepper.
Ladle soup into bowls. Spoon dollop of yogurt into each bowl. Sprinkle with tomatoes and cilantro and serve.
*Chipotle chiles canned in a spicy tomato sauce, sometimes called adobo, are available at Latin American markets and many supermarkets.

Test-kitchen tip:
Add richness to slow-cooker soups by using a mixture of half broth and half water instead of only water.
nutritional informationPer serving: calories, 314; total fat, 4 g; saturated fat, 1 g; cholesterol, 1 mg; fiber, 18 g
Nutritional analysis provided by Bon Appétit


Nikki's notes: 


You can skip the blending if you prefer a chunkier bean soup with a thin broth.
Also, I love the adobo style canned chipotle chiles that I've used for this. But, I rarely use them for anything other than this recipe. So, after I use one or two for this soup I lay them flat in a gallon-sized ziploc bag in the freezer (so they won't all freeze into one lump). Then, each time I cook with them I just pull however many I want out of the bag and chop them (while they are still frozen) on a cutting board. They chop extremely easily, and then I don't have to worry about them getting old-tasting in the fridge.

As you can imagine, this soup lends itself well to many different side dishes and toppings. Corn bread, salad, sour cream or yogurt, cilantro, tomatoes (as noted above), grated cheese, etc. It's also wonderful as is - with no extra add-ins. (And it's vegan that way!)

Monday, August 1, 2011

Buttermilk Lemon Plum Cake


I just bought both of Heidi Swanson's cookbooks: Super Natural Cooking, and Super Natural Every Day. I appreciate that they have a good dessert section. Plums are in season right now and bursting off of tables at farmer's markets near me, so I decided to get some and try this plum cake from Super Natural Every Day. It was well received in the DeMartini home - though consumers said (positively) that it was more like a cobbler than a cake because of the large chunks of fruit in it. If I made it again (which I probably will... within the week) I'd put more fruit in it to up the cobbler factor.

A testament to how quick and easy this is - I made one and decided it wouldn't be enough for everyone, so I made a second one and threw them both in the oven by the time it was hot. (Granted, I had helpers for zesting and slicing.) For the second one I didn't have any lemon zest left, so I just used the juice from the zested lemons. Texture was different but the taste was still great.

Ingredients:
2.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup of fine grain raw cane sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t sea salt

2 eggs
1.5 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
zest of 3 lemons

5-6 plums cut into thin wedges

3 T large grain raw cane sugar or turbinado

Preheat the oven to 400 and grease and flour an 11" cake pan. Mix the 4 dry ingredients in a bowl. In another small bowl, mix the eggs and buttermilk together, then add the butter (make sure it's not too hot) and the lemon zest. Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture and blend just until it's all blended together. You can either pour all the batter into the cake pan and then add the plums on top, or (my recommendation) pour in half the batter, put in a layer of plumbs, then the rest of the batter and more plums on top. Sprinkle the large grain sugar over the top of the cake. Bake for 25-30 minutes (mine took more like 35) - put in a toothpick or a skewer and make sure it comes out clean.

People will ooh and aaah at the beauty of your cake, then gobble it up.