It’s been raining cats and dogs in San Francisco, so a hearty soup was called for. We wanted to make something vegetarian that we could make a lot of and freeze. We love our Rancho Gordo heirloom black beans, so when we found Rick Bayless’s recipe for black bean soup, we got right to work. We adapted it to make it vegetarian and we didn’t even miss the meat!
This black bean soup is flavorful and full of winter vegetables. It’sis delicious with the spices of the chipotle chilies in adobo. We doubled the recipe and now our freezer is full of soup for a quick weeknight dinner. Use a slow cooker like this or this to brown our veggies and finish it all in the slow cooker to make it a one pot meal. What are your favorite soups and slow cooker recipes?
- 4 cups onions, small diced
- 1½ cups celery root, peeled and small diced
- 1½ cups fennel, diced
- 6 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 to 4 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, finely chopped, liquid reserved
- 1 pound dried black beans (we like Midnight Black)
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 28-ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes, well drained
- 2 cups cooked posole (or corn)
- salt
- olive oil
- 3 T adobo can liquid
- Greek yogurt
- Avocados, diced
- Green onions, sliced
- Cilantro, chopped
- Heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil in the bottom of a slow cooker and set to the "Brown" setting. If your slow cooker doesn't brown, use a large saute pan on the stove. Add onions, celery root, fennel, garlic, and and a pinch of salt. Cook until the vegetables begin to brown and soften. If using a saute pan, add the cooked vegetables to the slow cooker.
- Add chipotles (plus liquid), black beans, tomatoes, broth, and bay leaves. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 8 hours or until beans are tender.
- Remove the bay leaves.
- Remove 3 cups of soup and puree in a blender until very smooth, then return back to the slow cooker. Stir well.
- Add the posole or corn. Taste for salt and cook for 30 more minutes.
- Top and serve with chopped avocado, greek yogurt, green onion, and cilantro.
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