Recipe - Brendas Black Bean Soup

3 cup Dried black beans
2 Ham hocks
1 Bell pepper (chopped)
1 small Onion (chopped)
1 Whole sour orange or
tangerine
1 tablespoon Vinegar (if you used a
sweet orange or tangerine)
1 Stick oleo
2 tablespoon Of flour
Salt and pepper to taste

Tried out the "White Trash Cookbook" last night and whipped up this
black bean soup. In spite of the fact that I forgot to finish it
with the browned flour and butter, it turned out pretty darn good, if
a tad bland. (I did cheat and use real butter instead of oleo.)
Here's the recipe. Never having had black bean soup before, let alone
making it, I'm not sure what would be kosher to liven it up a bit.
Anyone have any tips? I served it with cornbread and a plate of
cut or sliced up homegrown tomatoes. BTW, the recipe is transcribed exactly as
it appears in the book to give a taste of Mickler's writing style.
Pretty neat stuff, though I'm not sure if I'm ready for the cold
collard sandwich yet...

Put your beans in a soup pot and cover with water. Boil, take off
the fire and let sit til cool. Cook onions and bell peppers in 1/2
the oleo until limp. Add them and the ham hocks and orange to the
cooled beans; cover charitably with water. Simmer until beans is
soft (1 to 2 hours). Fish out the orange right now, before it gets
tore up. With the rest of the oleo, brown the flour in a black
frying pan, then stir it into the beans. Brenda says: "Make sure you
got a soup, now. If you need to add some more water, do it."

From "White Trash Cooking", Ernest Matthew Mickler. Ten Speed Press,
1986. ISBN 0898151899.

Posted by Stephen Ceideberg; August 25 1992.

File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/cberg2.zip