Black Bean Soup with Avocado Corn Salsa

This is my favorite recipe for black bean soup! It is a little smoky and filled with rich flavor.

The beans need to be soaked overnight so, try to plan ahead, or you could use canned beans, however the flavor and texture will not be the same. If you do not have Sweet Mesquite seasoning (which I buy at Costco), you can substitute with smoked paprika which will lend desired smoky essence. All of these ingredients can be scaled to your own tastes, so experiment away!

Ingredients:

1 pound Black Beans, dried, soaked
1 each Onion, chopped
2 stalks Celery, chopped
1 each Red Bell Pepper, chopped
6 cloves Garlic
1 each Anaheim Chile, chopped
1 each Carrots, chopped
1 sprigs Cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
1 tablespoon Sweet Mesquite Seasoning
Water
1 each Avocado
2 each Corn, steamed and removed from the cob
2 each Scallions, chopped
1 each Lime, juiced
Salt
Ground Black Pepper

Method:

1. Soak The Black Beans: Place the dried black beans into a deep bowl or pot and completely cover with water. Cover the container and place in the refrigerator overnight to soak the beans.

2. Prepare Your Vegetables: Chop onions, red pepper, celery, Anaheim chile, and carrot into bite-sized pieces. Place vegetables into a large soup (or stock) pot. Drain the soaked black beans and add the beans to the pot with the chopped vegetables. Chop cilantro and add to pot with the whole garlic cloves, cumin, and sweet mesquite seasoning.

Add water to the pot, just enough to cover the vegetables and beans, but not so much that they begin to float. This is important because it will affect the final texture of the soup, which we want to be thick and rich, not runny or watery.

3. Set It and Forget It: Place a tight-fitting lid on the pot and simmer on medium-low heat for approximately 1 1/2 hours, or until the beans are completely cooked. When the soup has finished cooking, and the beans are completely cooked, puree the soup using either an immersion (stick) blender or a regular blender. Please keep in mind that this soup is extremely hot, so if you are using a traditional blender to puree your soup, please do not fill it more than half way full for each batch blended.

4. Avocado Corn Salsa: I would recommend that this does not get made very far ahead. The lime juice will help to retard the oxidation of the avocados, however, it is not a perfect solution.  You can use a good quality, no salt canned corn if you are REALLY in a bind for time, or better yet, you could cook the corn cobs in the soup pot toward the end to save time if you wish.  Then just pull it out and cut it off the cob.

Method:

Remove the flesh from the avocado and chop it into tasty little pieces. Steam the corn (or microwave it) and remove the kernels from the cob. Chop the fresh scallions finely. Add the avocado, corn, and scallions to a small mixing bowl and stir to combine, being careful not to break up the chunks of avocado. Squeeze all of the lime juice onto the mixture, season to taste with salt and pepper, and mix gently to combine.

Serve this on top of this soup or many other tasty things.
Servings: 12
Source: Spitfire Strength

Photo: Spitfire Strength