One of my few sources for recipes other than SK is one of my best friends, Courtney. Here is the almost frighteningly simple recipe that she sent me a while ago for a pumpkin and black bean soup. I keep a recipes document on my computer where I try to keep a list of recipes that I make or copy down recipes that people give me. The other day, I opened up the file to look at something, and I saw Courtney's soup recipe. I recently learned from a roommate that we can actually buy black beans at HIT from the organic section, so when I saw a recipe that used it, looked interesting, and would be a nice winter dinner, I decided to give it a try. To be completely honest, I was a little suspicious to try it out. Pumpkin and black bean don't really go together in my mind, and I wasn't sure if my little changes using real pumpkin instead of canned would make a difference. But I decided to give it a try and let my roommates be guinea pigs yet again, and it turned out really well. In addition to liking it for dinner, I went on to happily enjoy it for three days for lunch.
I decided to break the recipe down into a few more steps, especially because I used fresh pumpkin instead of canned, so I had to go through one or two more steps. All in all, it is still really simple.
Also, I got a new garlic press for Christmas (along with a few other really cute kitchen things - aprons and dishtowls from Ebe, cute bowls from Anthropologie from my "aunt," and cute measuring spoons also from Ebe, I think). The garlic press is a long silver tool, and you press it from side to side across the garlic, and it comes up through the slots. Then you just scrape it out. It is a lot easier to clean than the standard one, so I like it. I have it pictured below with some chopped (soft, yuck) purple onions.
Courtney’s Pumpkin Black Bean Soup
2 cans black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 an onion
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
1 can pumpkin
4 cups chicken broth
salt, pepper
My first step was to rub the pumpkin chunks in olive oil and put them in the oven for a while to get them started getting soft. I should have done this earlier to give them like 20 minutes or however long it took to get them really roasted and soft, but I didn't and managed to work it out later.
First sauté onion, garlic, and spices. I didn't add spices right away because my computer was charging, so I was cooking from memory at first. Once I got my onion and garlic sauteed in some olive oil, I put in the spices and mixed it around. It was a fairly dry and clumpy mix, and it made me sort of nervous that it would burn, so I put my pumpkin in, as mentioned, before they were completely cooked. I decided to add two cups of water and two bouillon cubes (we don't have chicken broth, but it's the same either way) and bring that to a boil until the pumpkin was soft.
Once the pumpkin was soft, I turned the heat off briefly and added the other two cups of water and a bouillon cube. I got our immersion blender out and pureed the pumpkin until it was smooth.
If you are using canned pumpkin, you can just saute the onion, garlic, and spices, then add the pumpkin into that, and now we are all on the same page.
Once my pumpkin was blended in, I added the tomatoes and black beans. Courtney said to let it simmer for about 45 minutes, but since I had the pumpkin cooking in the broth and spices for a while before adding the black beans and tomatoes, I only cooked it for another 20 minutes or so. As I said before, we really liked it, and I kept eating it for the next few days for lunch.
Also, here are some pictures of my salad. No, it isn't just because I'm proud that I made a salad (though I am because I never make them and Lindsay always does and hers are so good), but because I put it in our big Bulgarian pottery bowl, and I love the way the painted Bulgarian pottery looks. I should have taken pictures of it all together before Christmas, but I bought my family several pieces of Bulgarian pottery, and it's all really pretty.
I decided to break the recipe down into a few more steps, especially because I used fresh pumpkin instead of canned, so I had to go through one or two more steps. All in all, it is still really simple.
Also, I got a new garlic press for Christmas (along with a few other really cute kitchen things - aprons and dishtowls from Ebe, cute bowls from Anthropologie from my "aunt," and cute measuring spoons also from Ebe, I think). The garlic press is a long silver tool, and you press it from side to side across the garlic, and it comes up through the slots. Then you just scrape it out. It is a lot easier to clean than the standard one, so I like it. I have it pictured below with some chopped (soft, yuck) purple onions.
Courtney’s Pumpkin Black Bean Soup
2 cans black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1/2 an onion
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp all spice
1 can pumpkin
4 cups chicken broth
salt, pepper
My first step was to rub the pumpkin chunks in olive oil and put them in the oven for a while to get them started getting soft. I should have done this earlier to give them like 20 minutes or however long it took to get them really roasted and soft, but I didn't and managed to work it out later.
First sauté onion, garlic, and spices. I didn't add spices right away because my computer was charging, so I was cooking from memory at first. Once I got my onion and garlic sauteed in some olive oil, I put in the spices and mixed it around. It was a fairly dry and clumpy mix, and it made me sort of nervous that it would burn, so I put my pumpkin in, as mentioned, before they were completely cooked. I decided to add two cups of water and two bouillon cubes (we don't have chicken broth, but it's the same either way) and bring that to a boil until the pumpkin was soft.
Once the pumpkin was soft, I turned the heat off briefly and added the other two cups of water and a bouillon cube. I got our immersion blender out and pureed the pumpkin until it was smooth.
If you are using canned pumpkin, you can just saute the onion, garlic, and spices, then add the pumpkin into that, and now we are all on the same page.
Once my pumpkin was blended in, I added the tomatoes and black beans. Courtney said to let it simmer for about 45 minutes, but since I had the pumpkin cooking in the broth and spices for a while before adding the black beans and tomatoes, I only cooked it for another 20 minutes or so. As I said before, we really liked it, and I kept eating it for the next few days for lunch.
Also, here are some pictures of my salad. No, it isn't just because I'm proud that I made a salad (though I am because I never make them and Lindsay always does and hers are so good), but because I put it in our big Bulgarian pottery bowl, and I love the way the painted Bulgarian pottery looks. I should have taken pictures of it all together before Christmas, but I bought my family several pieces of Bulgarian pottery, and it's all really pretty.
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