Enjoy!

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

2 15 Ounce Cans of Black Beans (or about 3 1/2 cups of beans, soaked overnight)
4 Cups Chicken Stock
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 cloved garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt, to taste
Rice (See recipe below)

In a medium sized pot, heat the olive oil until fragarant and hot.  Add in the peppers and onions, and saute until onions are slightly translucent.  Add in the garlic and saute a minute longer.  Add in the 2 cans of beans, and the 4 cups of chicken stock and stir well.  Lower heat to a simmer, cover and allow to simmer for about 40 minutes.

After about 20 minutes, prepare the rice.

2 Cups rice
1 3/4 cups water
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tablespoon butter (optional)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
a bit of Tumeric or Saffron for color, if you wish

In a small pot, add water, chicken stock, butter, salt, garlic and optional tumeric or saffron.  Bring the water/stock to a boil.  Add in the rice and stir to remove any lumps (don’t overstir it, or it can become too sticky).  Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to the lowest setting, or a low simmer for about 18 minutes. Remove from the heat.

To serve, I usually grab the soup bowls,and place a serving of rice into the bowl, and ladle the black bean mixture over the rice.

Sprinkle with a bit of freshly ground pepper.

I like tomato soup (as long as it isn’t one of those canned versions), and one of my favorite cheeses is blue cheese, so this soup hits a positive on all counts.

I usually make this on a cool Saturday afternoon, and serve for dinner.  Any leftovers are always a Sunday lunch, served with grilled cheese sandwiches.  Yumm!! 

Roasted Tomato and Blue Cheese Soup

3 pounds of roma tomatoes, peeled, and seeded
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
1 leek, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
3 tablespoons heavy cream
fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 400F.  Spread out the tomatoes in a lightly oiled baking dish — 13×9 cake pan will work quite well.  Sprinkle with garlic, salt and pepper and roast for 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil, and saute the leek and carrot for about 3 minutes, then turn the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, until soft.

Stir in the chicken stock, and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and add the blue cheese, cream and basil.  Using a stick blender, puree the soup until smooth. 

Notes:

• If you don’t have a stick blender, use a regular blender and work in small batches until the soup is smooth.
• If you don’t have fresh basil, don’t worry – just use about 1 teaspoon dried, adding it in during the last 5 minutes the soup is simmering.
• If you have leftovers, and need to re-heat the soup, do make sure you don’t boil it – just warm it through, as the milk may break, and curdle on reheat.

TBH, the easiest ham and bean soup is basically just the beans, water, a ham hock and you are good to go — all the rest is gravy.. so to speak.

This recipe is my Grams, with a few minor changes.. like adding in chopped ham at the end, instead of beginning, because I don’t like rubbery and tasteless ham.  She always made this with just the water, but I like the flavor and depth the chicken stock adds.

Enjoy!  And, afaiktoit, I do expect to hear you made this!!

 

Ham and Bean Soup

1 pound dried beans
4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
4 cups water
1 2-3 pound ham hock (ham bone)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, shredded
1/2 cup celery, chopped fine
1 clove garlic, minced fine
1 bay leaf
2 cups chopped ham
black pepper, to taste

Rinse and pick over the beans, taking out broken or off colored ones.  Place the beans in a container, and cover with water, with 2/3 of the water above the beans.  Allow to soak 8-10 hours. **See note

Drain the beans, add to your soup pot, and cover with chicken stock and water.  Add in the ham hock, carrots, garlic, celery, mustard powder, and bay leaf.

Allow to simmer until the beans are tender.  Once they are at the very edible stage (mmmmmm), take the ham hock out, and add the chopped ham.  Add black pepper to taste, and serve.  

** Note on soaking beans:

You can also speed this up by bring a pot of water to a boil, adding salt and the beans.  Remove from the heat and allow to sit, covered, for about 1 hour)

Notes:

• I sometimes add about 1 cup of tomato sauce to this recipe, when I add the vegetables.  It adds a depth of flavor, and makes it richer tasting.
• If you don’t have chicken stock — no worries — just use water. 
• I use almost any bean that is available but I like great northern or pinto for this, personally.  They have in the market some mixed beans…packages with 10 to 15 different beans, which does give this soup an interesting variation, if you are so inclined.

This recipe serves 6 easily, so I halved it for tonight’s dinner.  I also didn’t have any fresh parsley nor basil, so I used the dried I had in the cupboard.  I used 1/4 teaspoon of each.  I should have used 1 teaspoon of basil.  Add it in about 10-15 minutes before you are ready to serve, so the herbs have time to re-hydrate, and flavor the soup.

Enjoy!

For those that are not familiar with orzo, it is a regular semolina pasta, shaped like rice, but not made from rice.

Sausage and Orzo Soup

1 pound of Italian sausage
2 carrots, shredded or grated
1 onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 can of tomatoes, chopped (with the juice)(a 28 oz can)
6 cups of chicken stock (if not making your own, use low-sodium)
1/2 cup orzo pasta
1/4 cup parsley (Italian, if possible), chopped
1/4 cup basil, cut in chiffonade
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste

In your soup pot, cook the sausage until browned and then remove, cutting into 1/2 to 1 inch pieces.

Add the carrots, onion, garlic and celery and sauté.  There is usually enough oil left in the pan from the sausage, but if not, add a tablespoon.  Once the vegetables are sauteed, add the tomatoes and chicken stock, and simmer on medium for 15-20 minutes.

Return the sausage to the pot and continue to simmer.

Meanwhile, cook the orzo until it’s al-dente.

Add the parsley, salt & pepper, and red pepper flakes. 

Serve soup over the orzo, and garnish with the fresh basil.

You can also cook the orzo in the soup, if you like.  There is enough liquid to allow for the cooking.  After you put the sausage back into the pot, add the orzo and cook about 20 minutes on a low boil, until the orzo is done. 

Notes:

If you cook the pasta in a different pot, you’ll be able to freeze this soup easily.  Also, if you don’t add the pasta to the soup, it will not absorb all the broth of the soup.

If you don’t have orzo pasta, use your favorite rice.  This is really good with wild rice.

If you are a ChiliHead, you’ll probably flame or faint. You are going to read about my Chili recipe.

Yes.. it’s a sacrilegious version. Yes, it contains tomatoes AND beans. And yes, I am sharing the recipe!!

I grew up eating a version of chili similar to the recipe below – it contains tomatoes, it contains beans. Get over it. To me, chili just doesn’t taste the right way without beans. I’ve tried chili with pinto, black, red, and every other color bean. My favorite is still red kidney beans, though black beans are a very second.

Oh. And I don’t like it so spicy hot that I can’t breathe, either. I like to taste it! So, if you are looking for a chili recipe that cuts your taste buds off, this ain’t it. What this recipe lacks in heat, it makes up for with balanced flavors that make your palate delighted that you can read a recipe, and follow directions.

Chili recipes are subjective. They are argued over and debated. The recipes are kept so secret even just asking “What makes this taste so divine?” can get you banned from a booth at a contest. I met a gentleman a few years ago at a chili contest in upstate New York, who told me his recipe was his great- great- grandfathers recipe. Only the men in the family knew the recipe, and only on their deathbeds, or in a will, actually gave the recipe to another person. Held secret, and close, nobody in the family knew how to make it, except the oldest male. It was handed down this way for generations. He received the recipe on a very yellowed and thin paper that almost crumbled in his hand. The recipe had been lightly written in pencil, the ingredients almost unreadable.

He had done things a bit differently than his father and grandfathers, though. After he had the actual recipe, he had the paper restored, and protected. He then stashed this precious recipe in a safe deposit box at a bank. Upon his death, the key goes to his son, and the recipe handed down another generation. This secret recipe had won many a contest, and was a hotly demanded favorite at family functions, as well as by the home community of this gentleman.

There are contests all over the world, from the annual Chili-Cook-Off in Antarctica, to the cook-offs in Australia. Canada, Finland, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Iceland and more. There are hundreds in the US alone. If you get the chance to go to a Chili Cook-off, do it. Besides the chili, you’ll usually find some amazing cooking going on – smoked ribs that are simply divine, pulled pork that you just cannot get enough of and beer – everything from the very basic “Budweis”? to micro-breweries serving local-made beers.

According to the International Chili Society, there were 211 Chili Cook Off Contests in the US in the year 2006. And they don’t list /all/ the contests and fairs. I’m pretty sure you can add at least 300 more small contests to that list and still be way off.

Although the recipe below won?t win any Chili Cook-Off contests, I hope you try it, and enjoy it. Change it, too, and make it your own.

Old Fashioned Chili

2 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1 Medium Onion, chopped
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
1 pound lean ground beef
28 ounce can tomatos, chopped
1 14 ounce can tomato sauce
3 cups water
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp rubbed thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
28 oz can kidney beans, rinsed
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1 small onion*, chopped
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Saute garlic and onion in oil until tender. Stir in ground beef and cook until no pink remains. Drain.

Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, fresh tomatoes, green pepper, kidney beans and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer.

After first hour, add seasonings. Continue to simmer another 1 1/2-2 hours.

Serve with fresh onions and cheese.

The small onion is for garnish/serving.