Monday 22 March 2010

Meat-Free Monday: Black Bean Soup & Quesadillas

When I ordered the chillies for my Mexican Chorizo, I bought a couple of other things as well. A jar of chopped chipotle in adobo, for example. I've seen so many recipes that call for it, but I've never seen it in a supermarket, so I thought I should snap some up. Of course, when push came to shove, I couldn't remember any of the enticing recipes that called for it! But I really wanted to use it, so I threw together this very quick soup.

Chipotle Black Bean Soup (serves 2)

Soften a diced onion and a chopped green pepper in a splash of oil. Add the chopped stalks from a handful of coriander. Add a drained and rinsed tin of black beans and half a teaspoon of chipotle in adobo, and just cover with hot vegetable stock. Simmer about 5 minutes to blend the flavours. Run a stick blender through it to give it some body, but leave it mostly chunky. Reheat and correct the seasoning. Make a quick salad/ salsa sort of thing with coriander leaves, halved cherry tomatoes, a clove of crushed garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve on top of the soup, with quesadillas on the side. These were manchego and rocket quesadillas, and pretty damn delicious.

It takes no time at all, but still tastes really good, so I am going to send it over to Deb for Souper Sundays! SouperSundays

15 comments:

Ken Albala said...

Sure looks delicious. You could ramp it up with some crumbled queso fresco or even sour cream and chopped avocado. Love those beans!

kat said...

Black bean soup is so tasty! We use those chipotles in adobe a lot, I always have to be careful cause the spice sneaks up on me

Alicia Foodycat said...

Ken - thanks so much for visiting my blog! I've never seen queso fresco in the UK, but I think a dollop of sour cream would have been perfect.

Kat - oh yes! I have much more tolerance for chilli than you do, but when I was making the soup I very rashly licked the spoon and almost died.

NKP said...

Yum, looks tasty! I love chipotle!

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

a wonderful spring soup, especially an English spring, when you get fooled into dressing too lightly and the weather changes to more winter than spring!

Alicia Foodycat said...

Natashya - me too! The smokey sweetness is so wonderful.

Dave - good assessment of the weather! It's been quite nice the last week or so, but I fully expect it to change again.

Dgrub said...

Your photo of black bean looks delish and I love chipotle spice. A related post on how to make black beans from scratch is at http://desigrub.com/2010/03/glorious-black-beans/. You may find it useful. There's no seasoning like yours though.

Simona Carini said...

The whole dinner looks very nice! Have you thought of making queso fresco at home? Just an idea.

mscrankypants said...

Looks delicious and your description is making my mouth water. I'd like to try licking the spoon to see if the chilli kills me, as I kind of enjoy doing that with chilli-flavoured foods and sauces :-).

Alicia Foodycat said...

Dgrub - thanks! I do normally cook my black beans from scratch, but I've been having trouble with supply. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Simona - it has crossed my mind. I should look for a recipe!

Cranky - it's a slow burn that then punches you in the back of the head.

Joanne said...

Isn't taht always the way it is? You search long and hard for an ingredient and then when you find it you can't quite remember what you want to use it for. Sigh.

This soup looks delicious, as do those quesadillas! Yum.

Deb in Hawaii said...

Black bean soup is a favorite of mine! Thanks for sending it to Souper Sundays.

I have a most of a can of the chipotle in a container in my freezer--I need to find something else to make with them too. ;-)

mscrankypants said...

>Cranky - it's a slow burn that then punches you in the back of the head.

Sounds like going to work, really ;-).

Alicia Foodycat said...

Joanne - exactly! God knows why I desperately needed nigella seeds a couple of weeks ago too!

Deb - I'm thinking a chipotle burger, since it's getting springlike.

Cranky - yum, it's lovely stuff!

Unknown said...

I see you are on a Mexican food mood lately! Great soup.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...