Tag Archives: black beans

Bean and spinach soup

31 Oct

bean-and-spinach-soupA nice soup for cool fall days.

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. olive oil
2 tsp. chopped garlic
8 cups vegetable or chicken broth
3 cans (15 oz.) white beans, such as cannellini or great northern, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 package (10 oz.) fresh spinach, chopped, or frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and beans and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook for 30 minutes.

While the soup is cooking, combine the black beans, red pepper parsley and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Remove the soup from the heat and cool until it is very warm. Puree in food processor or blender (or with immersion blender) and return to the pot. Season with salt and white pepper. Stir in the spinach  and bring to a boil.

Divide the black bean mixture among 6 bowls and ladle the soup over the mixture.

Serves 6

 

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Black Bean and Corn Salad With Lime-Cumin Dressing

12 Nov

Black Bean and Corn SaladThe original recipe I adapted this from used beans only. I thought it looked nice — and tasted better too — with beans and corn.

This might seem like an odd time to be promoting a salad, rather than a warming cold-weather dish. But it’s the start of entertainment season, with Thanksgiving, Chanukah and soon enough Christmas and New Year upon us. This salad is a really good one for a potluck, brunch or party. It’s light on the dressing, and you can serve it with a single spoon rather than salad forks or tongs. And it’s quite attractive. If you want even more color, substitute some red or orange pepper for the celery. You can easily double it if you’re serving a crowd.

Ingredients:

1 cup thinly sliced celery
¾ cup vertically sliced red onion
1 (15-oz.) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (thaw if using frozen)
¼ cup fresh lime juice
1 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. olive oil
¼ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. salt

Directions:

Combine celery, onion, black beans and corn in a bowl and toss well. Combine the lime juice, sugar, oil and cumin in a small bowl, and whisk until blended. Pour over the bean mixture and toss to coat. Allow the salad to sit for at least a few hours in the refrigerator or at room temperature for the flavors to mingle.

Serves 4 to 6

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Quinoa Salad with Beans and Corn

11 Jun Quinoa Salad with Beans and Corn

Quinoa Salad with Beans and Corn I was a little late jumping on the quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) bandwagon because…well, it was new and peculiar! It’s one thing to try something in a veggie-friendly restaurant, quite another to cook  it — and there were all those dire warnings about rinsing it first so it isn’t bitter. It turns out that quinoa is almost as easy to cook as rice (though you do have to take the added step of rinsing it). In taste and texture it’s somewhere between rice and bulgur, mild but with a little firmness to the bite. I adapted this recipe from epicurious.com. I was looking for something that contained neither gluten nor onion/scallion because we were hosting a guest with allergies. The recipe calls for “chopped fresh coriander,” which I think means cilantro. I didn’t have any, and we don’t particularly care for cilantro anyway, so I added  about a teaspoon of ground coriander to the dressing. I added a little parsley to the salad for the color that fresh cilantro would have provided. But I’m printing the original ingredients. You can make it up to a day ahead of time.

Ingredients:

1½ cups quinoa 1½ cooked black beans (rinse if you use canned) 1½ red wine vinegar 1½ cups cooked fresh or frozen corn ¾ cup chopped bell pepper (any color) 2 pickled jalapeno chilies, seeded and minced (I used bottled sliced jalapenos and chopped them)| ¼ cup finely chopped fresh coriander Tbs. lime juice (or more to taste) 1 tsp. salt 1¼ tsp. ground cumin (or to taste) ⅓ cup olive oil

Directions:

In a large bowl, wash the quinoa in at least 5 changes of cold water, rubbing the grains and letting them settle before pouring off most of the water, until the water runs clear; drain in a large, fine sieve. (I just used the sieve each time I drained the quinoa.) In a saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the quinoa for 10 minutes. Drain in a sieve and rinse under cold water. Set the sieve over a saucepan of boiling water; make sure the quinoa does not touch the water. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and the saucepan lid and steam until fluffy and dry, about 10 minutes (add water to pan if necessary). While quinoa is cooking, toss the black beans with the vinegar. Transfer the quinoa to a large bowl and cool. Add the beans, corn, bell pepper, jalapenos and coriander and mix well. In a small bowl, whisk together the lime juice, salt and cumin and add the oil slowly in a stream, whisking constantly. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and mix well. The salad may be made a day ahead of time and chilled, covered. Serve at room temperature. Serves 8

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