Smokey Cuban Black Bean Soup Recipes

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the carrot, corn and onion and cook until the vegetables being to soften, about 8 minutes. Season with salt.
• Add the garlic, chile powder and cumin and cook until the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the beans, chipotle and adobo sauce and stir just to combine. Pour in the stock and 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer and cook until thick and creamy, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Stir in the lime juice and season with salt, if necessary. Puree the hot soup with a hand blender, if desired, or leave chunky. Serve in soup bowls with the cilantro and a dollop of sour cream.

Steps:

• In 5-quart slow cooker, mix all Soup ingredients except lime juice. Cover; cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours or until ham easily pulls away from bone.
• Remove ham shank from slow cooker. Pull ham away from bone; chop, discarding the bone. With potato masher, carefully mash black beans inside slow cooker insert. Stir in 1 cup of the ham and the lime juice. Serve soup with Toppings.

Steps:

• Cut 1 green pepper into 1-inch squares. Smash and peel 4 of the garlic cloves. Put the green pepper and garlic into a large pot with the beans, ham hock, bay leaves and 1 tablespoon salt. Add 2 quarts water and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and simmer until the beans are tender, an hour or more.
• Meanwhile, make a sofrito. Cut the remaining ½ green pepper into ¼-inch dice. Peel and finely chop the remaining garlic. Heat the olive oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the green pepper and onion and cook, stirring, until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeño (leave out the seeds if you don't want it too spicy), oregano, cumin, black pepper and 2 teaspoons salt and stir for another minute. Pour in the vinegar and scrape any browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. This is your sofrito.
• When the beans are cooked, discard the bay leaf. Remove and set aside the ham hock and let it cool. Transfer 1 cup of beans to small bowl, mash them into a paste with the back of a fork and return to the pot. Add the sofrito, then the sugar. Pull the meat from the ham hock, leaving behind any white sinew or gristle. Chop the ham into ½-inch pieces and return it to the bean pot.
• Stir the beans well and bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so, skimming any foam from the top. Taste for salt and serve with white rice.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high; add sausage and cook, stirring, until crisp, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add scallions, celery, and thyme to pan; cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes; bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes. Drain and rinse one can of beans, leaving the second in its liquid; add both to pan with 1 cup water.
• Return to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes. If desired, remove 1 cup of mixture and purée in a blender or food processor until smooth, about 15 seconds, then return to pan. Season with salt and pepper.
• Top each serving with cooked sausage, a dollop of sour cream, and a small handful of watercress. Sprinkle with pepper and celery leaves; serve.