>From: Sharon Romeo <sromeo@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>I had an EXCELLENT black bean soup this weekend at a local Mexican restaurant.
>It looked like it had cream (could use FF evaporated skim milk) and a bit of
>tomato sauce or paste. It also had bacon. The final soup was blended smooth
>leaving only tiny bits of the black skin visible. The seasoning was very
>mild, not like my traditional black bean soup. Does anyone have any ideas on
>how I might be able to replicate this in a LF or FF manner?
Black bean soup is really easy. I cook up a batch of black beans with
a bay leaf, a little cumin, and a chopped onion for flavoring (you
can also just open a can of black beans and rinse thoroughly). Remove
the bayleaf. Add the secret ingredient: a few *drops* of hickory smoke
flavoring to get that smoky bacon flavor. If you want, add 1/2-1
can chopped tomatoes (I use 1 can tomatoes for 3-4 cups of beans, but you
can certainly use more or less). Add a little ff sour cream, about 1/2
cup per 3-4 cups beans (that's probably what you saw, not skim milk).
Throw all this in batches into a blender, and puree until smooth, adding
a little water to make it the right consistency. Heat it up on the
stove or microwave, and then pour into wide bowls. Swirl cool ff sour
cream into the hot soup, and maybe top it all of with a little bit of
chopped green onions or chopped cilantro on top.
I'll serve this with crusty french bread, and maybe cantelope slices
if they are in season. Cornbread also goes well with this soup.
Hmm... maybe that's what I'll have for dinner tonight!
T Sconyers
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