Recipe - Pinto Bean Soup With Mint And Pine Nuts

2 cup Pinto or Anasazi beans
1 tablespoon Sunflower or light olive oil
1 small Onion; finely minced
1 teaspoon New Mexican red chile
10 cup ;Water
Salt
1 cup Half and half
2 tablespoon Chopped cilantro
2 tablespoon Chopped parsley
2 tablespoon Chives, minced or
4 Scallions; finely cut or sliced up
2 tablespoon Pine nuts; toasted

Soak beans overnight; drain. Transfer to a large soup pot and cover the
beans with fresh water. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then drain and
rinse them.

Warm the oil in the soup pot, add the onion and chile and briefly cook
together. Next add the beans and 10 cups of water; bring to a boil. Simmer
until beans are tender, about 45 minutes for new beans, longer for older
beans. Season to taste with salt, then continue cooking until they are
completely soft.

Puree half the beans and cooking liquid at a time in the blender until
smooth. Return the puree to the pot. Add cream and reheat. Chop toasted
pine nuts finely. Stir in the chopped herbs, reserving some of the chives.
Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with remaining chives and the pine
nuts.

From WWiVNet. Electronic format by Cathy Harned.

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini