Hamptons Epicure: Pantry Soup Recipe – Black Bean and Rice Is Nice

I bought a bag of Sagaponack farmer Marilee Foster’s black turtle beans recently. A bag goes a long way. I soaked all of the beans overnight and then boiled them with a tablespoon of salt for about 35 minutes. I used four cups of these prepared beans in the recipe below, instead of canned black beans, and refrigerated the rest. The local beans made for a really good soup.

As you can see, this is a “pantry recipe”—you probably have everything you need in your kitchen to make it right now.

BLACK BEAN & RICE SOUP
Serves 8

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder (or more, to taste)
6 cups chicken stock
2 15oz.-cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 14.5oz.-can tomatoes, chopped (undrained)
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream or yogurt
salsa
corn chips

Directions:
Sauté the onion and garlic in olive oil until soft.
Add the cumin and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add the stock, beans, tomatoes, rice and oregano.
Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove about a third of the soup to a food processor or blender to purée it.
(You don’t want to purée too much, as the beans and rice release a lot of starch.)
Stir purée into pot of soup and re-heat fully.
Serve with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream, salsa and corn chips.

This soup is naturally gluten-free. To make a vegetarian version, substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

Stacy is currently at work on a Hamptons-centric cookbook with co-author Hillary Davis. You can follow Stacy’s informed and opinionated foodie adventures on twitter @hamptonsepicure