Recipe - Cream Of Black Bean Soup

1/3 cup Olive oil
One half pound Bacon; minced
4 lg Onions; chopped
3 lg Celery ribs with leaves;
chopped
4 Cloves garlic; minced
1 pound Black beans (about 2 1/2
cups)
One fourth teaspoon Cayenne pepper
2 teaspoon Ground cumin
5 cn (14.5oz) chicken broth;
about 8 Three fourths cups
One fourth cup Red wine vinegar
One half cup Sherry
Assorted condiments: cooked
rice; chopped cilantro,
salsa; shredded cheddar,
sour cream; chopped
scallions; chopped
hardboiled eggs; chopped
green peppers

Heat oil in 5 qt dutch oven or heavy sauce pot over mediumhigh heat. Add
bacon, onions, and celery and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium.
Cook, stirring occaisionally, 3040 minutes until vegetables are very soft
and lightly browned. Add garlic.

Pick over beans,remove bad ones, rinse and drain. Add beans to pan with
cayenne, cumin, and broth; bring everything to a boil over high heat.
Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook until beans mash easily,about 3
hours. Skim fat from the soup and discard. Allow soup to cool slightly and
then puree small portions at a time in food processor or blender. Soup must
be cool enough not to crack the machines! Also, small batches or it will
blow the lid 'clean hoff' (my comment). Return soup to pan and cook over
mediumhigh until very hot. Remove from heat, stir in vinegar and sherry.
Serve with condiments. (serves 1012)

This soup is also amended well by using chipotle, moritas or other smoked
peppers. And this is also a dish where vinegar based chili concoctions
works well.There are many places to very the recipe and I have had a real
rich soup with the addition of half and half cream, about a quart, at the
final addition of vinegar and sherry.

The soup is great as it appears above in the recipe without any changes,
and gets even better the next day, and the next, in the fridge. Adios.

douglas allen thompson aesculus@TSO.UC.EDU

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