Black Bean Soup
I have owned my slow-cooker for as long as Peter and I have been married--twelve years. The ironic thing is that during most of this time, I never held high opinions of them. To me, using a slow-cooker seemed like a lazy way out of cooking a proper dinner. So many recipes I came across involved seasoning packets with ingredients I couldn't pronounce, preservative-laden canned sauces, or those dreadful, frozen "dinners in a bag". People are free to buy what they want, but those types of "foods" have no place in my kitchen. Ever. I had profound doubts that a slow-cooker could be used successfully to cook a meal completely from scratch using fresh, unprocessed ingredients.
How wrong I was.
I've noticed how slow-cookers have been making a strong comeback in recent years, and with that, new and updated slow-cooker recipes that call for fresh and healthy ingredients. And while we're talking about slow-cookers, have you seen how swanky the new models are? Take a look. I'm thinking I might need to upgrade... Good thing Christmas is right around the corner!
I found this recipe last year while perusing Smitten Kitchen. It was such a great feeling to finally read a healthy recipe that I could make entirely from scratch and make in my slow-cooker. The time-saving feature of a slow-cooker always appealed to me. Maybe that's why I hung on to it all these years despite it sitting neglected in the back of my cupboard. And for the record, I no longer think that using a slow-cooker is a lazy way out of cooking a proper dinner. On the contrary, I think it's a brilliant way to get a great meal on the table. Just a little prep work, maybe some sauteeing or searing, fill up the ceramic insert, give things a stir, pop on the lid, press a button or two and go on about the rest of your day. I'll never forget that glorious I-don't-have-to-worry-about-dinner-because-it's-in-the-slow-cooker feeling when I first used it. I almost didn't know what to do with myself and all the time in my day that had been freed up.
While I'm still realtively new to cooking meals in my slow-cooker, I've quickly come to love what a slow-cooker does to dried beans. I adore cooking with dried beans. I'm certainly not anti-canned beans--on the contrary, I have three to four variety of canned beans in my pantry at any given time. But for a long, slow-cooked recipe like this one, dried beans are necessary. Some recipes require pre-soaking your beans overnight in cold water to reconstitute them, but this particular recipe skips that step. You simply pick through the beans to remove any debris, give them a good rinse under cold water and transfer them directly into the slow cooker with the rest of the ingredients before covering everything with hot water and letting the slow-cooker do its thing.
And you can then go do your thing, because dinner is taken care of.
Black Bean Soup
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, which was adapted from EpicuriousThis soup will be rather thin in consistency once it's finished cooking, but after refrigerating it overnight, it thickens considerably {in a good way}. You can always thin it out with some water if desired. I prefer a thicker consistency and love ladeling this soup over hot, buttered rice topped with a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche and a sprinkle of cilantro. This soup also freezes incredibly well, so it's great for big batch cooking.
Don't worry about being too exact with the measurements for the onions and bell peppers. I just use smaller sizes of each and use the whole of each one. I also don't use garlic in this recipe so I'm listing it as optional.
3 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped red onion {1 small red onion}
1 1/2 cups chopped red bell pepper {1 small pepper}
1 1/2 cups chopped green bell pepper {1 small pepper}
4 garlic cloves, finely minced {optional}
4 tsp. ground cumin
1 16-ounce {1 lb.} package dried black beans, picked through and rinsed
7 cups hot water
2 T. fresh lime juice {1 small lime}
3 T. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepperHeat the olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Ad the chopped onion and bell peppers and saute until they are softened and beginning to brown lightly, about 8-10 minutes. Add in the garlic {if using} and cumin and stir for 1 additional minute. Adjust the heat as necessary to prevent the vegetables from burning. Transfer the vegetable mixture to the slow-cooker. Add in the rinsed black beans and cover with the hot water. Cover and cook on on the HIGH setting until the beans are tender {3-4 hours}.
Once the beans are cooked, stir in the lime juice, salt and pepper and stir well to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If desired, you can ladle 2-3 cups of the soup into a blender, puree it until smooth and then return it to the slow-cooker.
Safety Note: Remember to remove the circular insert in the blender lid and cover it with a thick dishtowel before pureeing a hot liquid. Also, never fill the blender caraffe more than halfway with hot liquid.
Keep the slow-cooker on the WARM setting until you are ready to serve the soup.
Cool soup to room temperature before freezing or refrigerating. If freezing the soup, be sure to leave enough head space at the top of the container to allow for expansion once the soup is completely frozen.
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The soup looks wonderful. Perfect for a chilly day!
This soup sounds great Flavia! I want to marry my new slow cooker. It's one that switches to warm automatically after so many hours. GENIUS. It's so nice coming home from work to a ready, warm meal :)