Sunday, December 14, 2008

Black bean pumpkin soup


A few people asked about the black bean pumpkin soup from my last post. It is seriously good, quick, and a do-over in our house for sure (our only do-overs are things that toddlers will eat, and this is one he usually asks for a second bowl of). It also has the subtitle that all my soups do: excuse to eat bread and cheese for supper. Here it is, from Smitten Kitchen, one of my favorite food porn sites EVER. She should charge for viewing those photos.

Mine usually turns out blacker than this photo. We usually skip the ham, and what the heck is a shallot? Extra onion instead. And we never garnish anything in our house, we're lucky if we sit down. But I'm sure it would be great if you garnished, and toasted pumpkin seeds on just about anything would prolly be good. Enjoy!

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup
Gourmet, November 1996 (and Smitten Kitchen, 2007)

Yield: 9 cups

Three 15 1/2 ounce cans black beans (about 4 1/2 cups), rinsed and drained
1 cup drained canned tomatoes, chopped
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup minced shallot
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
4 cups beef broth
a 16-ounce can pumpkin puree (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup dry Sherry
1/2 pound cooked ham, cut into 1/8-inch dice
3 to 4 tablespoons Sherry vinegar

Garnish: sour cream and coarsely chopped lightly toasted pumpkin seeds

In a food processor coarsely puree beans and tomatoes.

In a 6-quart heavy kettle cook onion, shallot, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is softened and beginning to brown. Stir in bean puree. Stir in broth, pumpkin, and Sherry until combined and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 25 minutes, or until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Just before serving, add ham and vinegar and simmer soup, stirring, until heated through. Season soup with salt and pepper.

Serve soup garnished with sour cream and toasted pumpkin seeds.

(photo from Smitten Kitchen)

12 comments:

Darla said...

I have to give this one a try. We make pumpkin soup, we make black bean soup, never tried the combo tho.

We get tamales at a special shop in Calistoga that have squash and black bean filling, they are so good.

Darla

smalltownme said...

I think we'll try this....maybe after Christmas when we have some ham to put in it. It looks yummy.

Irene said...

I would love to try this recipe, but I may have a bit of a hard time finding canned pumpkin in the Netherlands, Could I substitute anything else? Would potatoes do?

Lisa Wheeler Milton said...

What a great combo. Why didn't I think of this before? Seems, well, logical.

Thanks a bunch.

GroundedGirl said...

Do you add the sherry? ("That bottle, honey? Oh, that's mommy's cooking medicine...")

Thank you for bringing soup to my life, Nora Bee! Now I just need (and I mean NEED) a Le Creuset pot and I'll be good to go!

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

I'm definitely trying this this week.

Nora said...

Finely Tuned: I think you could use any sort of squash. We actually don't use canned either but baked and pureed squash or pumpkin. My American friend in the UK also has a hard time finding canned pumpkin there.

Anonymous said...

Looks yummy! I'll have to veganize it and whip up a batch this week. (Like I ever just "whip something up"!)

Nowheymama said...

Oh, thank you! Looks great.

Jennifer said...

We'd skip the ham, too, as well as the beef broth, but...yum!

Claire B. said...

Wow, thanks for this. Looks fab. I also *heart* SK so very much.

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