SW: Black Bean Soup

The black bean is a marvelous, versatile bean chock-full of awesome. You can eat them solo, you can blend them into a puree and add them to brownie mix, and you can feature them on day of two of soup week! (If you're into that sort of thing.)

I started from dry beans and set my crockpot going yesterday in prep for today, but canned beans work too. In fact, they may work better--black beans a la crockpot does not smell awesome. Likewise, you can use whole black beans in your soup, or, you can puree them into smooth bliss. I choose lumpy black beans, a pseudo half-blended/half-whole hybrid monster.

The ingredients are simple:

• 2 cans of black beans
• Minced garlic, 1-2 cloves
• Something to give your soup "kick," i.e. salsa, green chile, taco seasoning, etc. (I usually opt for spicy taco seasoning)
• Cumin
• Lime for garnish and a hint of lime juice flavor
• Fresh cilantro if you can get your hands on it
• Sour cream and your cheese of choice for final garnish--I like mine with a sharp cheddar. Then again, I'd use sharp cheddar on nearly anything.
  

1. In a medium pot, saute garlic in a swirl of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add a pinch or two of cumin (I give my cumin shaker a good healthy heave), and add the black beans, your something spicy, and the juice from half of your lime. Stir and simmer for 20 minutes. Drop your heat down if your pot's contents get too excited.

2. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream, shredded cheese, lime slices, and cilantro.

3. Enjoy with a chicken-mushroom-zucchini-cheddar quesadilla. (Or just tortilla chips if you are quesadilla-less.) Yum!