Cuban Black Bean Soup

I took a lovely vacation to Cuba Miami Beach last week with some of the funniest girls I've ever met. It was hot as blazes for the entire four days we were there so I missed my opportunity to eat some tasty authentic Cuban black bean soup.  Never one to miss an opportunity, I thought it would be prudent for me to make said soup upon my return. Now, since I am not one bit Cuban, I modeled this after a tasty black bean soup served at a local Cuban lunch spot I visit when I get over myself and decide that ham + mustard + pickles = yummy, which is so odd to me because mustard and pickles on their own tend to not be yummy. Anywho, I digress, onto this Cuban Black Bean Soup.

For this bowl of hearty goodness, you will need: one large onion, a few cloves of garlic, a spicy pepper of your choosing, one red bell pepper, one green bell pepper, two ripe roma tomatoes, some ham, three cans of black beans, a cup or so of yellow rice, bay leaves, hot smoked paprika and some broth.

First, start by finely chopping the veggies for the soup: three cloves of garlic, one banana pepper and the onion. Side note about the peppers, they're from my garden and I fully intended to use both of them. I also have learned (the hard way) that they keep getting hotter as summer goes on. I (stupidly) tasted some of the raw pepper and it was so hot I knew only one pepper was necessary. Only half of the diced onion will be going in the soup, so reserve the rest for the rice. If you're including ham, aren't lazy and didn't buy pre-diced ham, dice that up as well. I was lazy. In my defense I flew back from Miami at 6:30 AM so I have an excuse for my laziness.

Next, finely dice both bell peppers for the rice.  You could get away with leaving out the green bell pepper. I only used it because this one was rudely blown off the pepper plant it was happily growing upon and it needed to be cooked.

Lastly, seed and coarsely chop the tomatoes. 

Now, get to cooking the soup.  Start with heating a bit of olive oil in your favorite stock pot over medium heat.  Then, add the onion, garlic and banana peppers. Cook these for about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, rinse and drain two cans of black beans.

Next, add the ham and cook for another 3 minutes.  The ham is obviously optional. This soup would be very easily made vegetarian. I just like ham, a lot (please click this link, you will not be disappointed, but you may find yourself wasting hours of time and giggling inappropriately in a place where you shouldn't be giggling and no, it doesn't have anything to do with ham).

Finally, add the star of the show, the black beans.  Both the two cans that were rinsed and drained and the one non-drained can and it's semi-weird black bean juice.

Top this all off with about 4-5 cups of broth and throw in two bay leaves and a whole bunch of hot smoked paprika.  Increase heat to bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, work on the rice. Could the rice just be cooked in the soup? Yeah probably, but I didn't want to do that. Said aforementioned Cuban lunch spot serves their yellow rice on the side of the soup and I (ingeniously) mix them together, so I was working off that model. A word about yellow rice - I bought this pre-packaged as yellow rice, but it's simply saffron that makes it yellow. If you happen to have both saffron and white rice lying around, just put the two together to get yellow rice. If not, the lovely people at the Mahatma rice company have already done this for you.

First, heat some olive oil in a high-sided skillet or medium sauce pan over medium heat. Then add the diced onion and bell peppers. Cook these for about 5 minutes until all begin to soften.

Then, add the rice. Cooking for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add about 2 cups of broth (if you have some leftover) or just plain water if you don't.  Throw some salt in while you're at it and cover. Keep a close eye on the rice since you don't want to end up with a boiled over rice mess. Turn the heat down if an anxiety-inducing vigorous boil begins to form.  The rice should take about 20-25 minutes to cook.

Once the rice is cooked, turn off the heat and stir in the tomatoes. Resist the urge to eat the rice without the soup, because it's tasty and gorgeous.

By now, the soup should have developed a nice, rich flavor. I felt as though mine was more like beans in liquid than a true soup, so I broke out a potato masher and mashed the soup a bit. Not so much that it turned to mush, but enough that some of the beans softened and fell apart into the broth.

To serve, ladle some soup into a bowl and top with the delicious rice.  Enjoy!

Pasta e fagioli

I spent Christmas this year at my new in-laws house celebrating with some lovely Swiss traditions, but realized once I got home that I missed some of the Italian traditions that I'm used to from growing up in Little Italy (aka Westerly, Rhode Island). I decided today was the perfect day for some pasta e fagioli. This soup is actually inspired by a pasta e fagioli I had in Greve in Chianti on my honeymoon, a meal I proclaim was the best meal I've ever had. I also decided that today was also the perfect day to document the soup in pictures ala Carla Jeffries' fantastic blog (see link list to the right and click on the 'il piatto blu' link) and because said wonderful in-laws bought me and Brian an awesome camera and we're quite the shutter bugs these days. Kindly do not judge the mess that is my kitchen, Brian and I are starting to remodel it next week and we've pretty much mailed it in with keeping it clean. Now to the soup . . .

 First, chop up a few things: about 1/10th of a pound of pancetta into cubes, 1-2 onions diced and 3-4 garlic cloves minced. I get the pancetta from the deli and usually order a quarter pound in thick slices. The nice deli man gave me three thick slices and I used one and a half of them. I used white onions because that's all that we had in the house, but any onion other than red will do. You'll also want to drain and rinse two cans of Great Northern or Cannellini beans. Later, you'll need a sprig or two of rosemary, so you may consider getting that out now too. I have a huge rosemary bush in my backyard (another spoil from the awesome in-laws) and I highly recommend you get one too.

Next, melt one tablespoon of butter in your stock pot. I tend to be a devoted olive oil girl, but this recipe does really well with butter. Once its melted, add your pancetta. 

Cook the pancetta for 5-15 minutes depending on how fatty the cut you have is. You want to make sure a good portion of the fat is rendered. 

Once the pancetta is a little crispy, add the diced onions and minced garlic and cook for 2-4 minutes until the onions start to get a little translucent. Now is also a good time to add any other seasoning you'd like. I put in a pinch of salt, some fresh ground pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Next, add a third to half of a bottle of white wine and the rosemary sprigs. I used a sweet white, but anything white will do. The wine adds some really good flavor, so unless you're a teetotaler, I strongly suggest adding it. Cook this for about 10 minutes so that the alcohol cooks away but the flavor cooks into the veggies. Then add the beans and 4-6 cups of stock. I used chicken stock but anything but beef should taste yummy. Simmer the soup for 20-40 minutes. I like to believe that the longer you simmer, the better it tastes, but I have no idea if that's actually true.

Once everything has happily simmered for a while and the broth tastes delicious, its time to blend this baby with your trusty stick blender. First, pull out the rosemary sprigs as they can sometimes taste a little bit like a tree. You can pull a few of the rosemary leaves off and keep them in the soup, but not the entire sprig, unless you like the taste of tree. Take the soup off the heat and blend until smooth. If you don't have a stick blender, you can use a stand blender, just be sure to cool the soup a bit first (or be ready to clean up the mess you'll make if you don't).

Lastly, put the soup back over medium heat, and add about 1/2 a cup of ditalini or other small pasta. If you can't find ditalini, rigatoni could work in a pinch. Cook for 6-7 minutes, you'll want the pasta to be al dente. If you're eating or serving the soup immediately, it will be a little thin but very delicious and surprisingly hearty. If you're going to refrigerate and eat later, be prepared for it to thicken a ton and only slightly thin out when reheated. It will still be delicious. The pasta has a tendency to sink to the bottom, so when doling out portions, be sure that you're ladling from the bottom or else you'll end with a serving of all pasta and many of all broth. Enjoy!