To launch me back into cooking, I thought I would start with one of my old favourites - my bean soup.
I love soup. I eat it all year round, even when it is 90 degrees outside! I used to make this soup every couple of weeks before my husband became ill (sadly it was too spicy for his stomach) and would eat it every day for lunch, then stash half of it in individual portions in the freezer for emergencies.
A freezer is the single person's culinary best friend, and I intend to help you stock it full of yummy meals that can be defrosted and served in a jiffy for those nights where you dont have time or simply cant be arsed cooking!
Anyway, back to the soup. The wonderful thing about this soup is that the recipe below is merely a guideline. You can literally put in whatever veg you have in the fridge or need to use up quickly. Here's what I used today:
1 onion
1 red bell pepper
1 zucchini
1 pack of mushrooms
5 carrots
All chopped to your desired size
Also
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp chili powder (I prefer chipotle chile powder)
3 Knorr vegetable stock cubes
4tbsp tomato puree
2 cans chopped tomatoes (I prefer fire roasted tomatoes)
2 cans beans (I use 1 of pinto and 1 of black, but you can use whatever you prefer)
* Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot and fry the onions for about 5 minutes.
* Add the garlic for a minute, then add your vegetables and saute for another 5 minutes or so.
* Add the herbs and spices, tomatoes and puree, and stock cubes. Add enough water to achieve the desired consistency. (I would usually just add two stock cubes at first then test in a few minutes to see if it needs another.)
* Bring to the boil, cover and reduce heat. Dont forget to give it a taste to see if you need to adjust the stock, spices or tomato puree, and then season as you see fit.
At this point, you can adjust the cooking time to suit your hunger level and vegetables of choice. If you are short on time you could simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender, then stir in the beans and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes.
I usually make this soup in the afternoon with plenty of time to spare so I like to turf the beans in sooner and then turn the heat down low and leave it alone for a couple of hours to let the veg get all yummy and mushy and all the flavours blend together.
Serve in a bowl (obviously!) with a big dollop of sour cream on top. Heaven!!
This batch made about 10 hearty portions, 5 of which went straight in to my freezer for future happiness. One thing that was missing today was sweetcorn - mainly because im an idiot and forgot to buy some. Fresh corn is always best if you can get it, but I will be stocking up on canned sweetcorn on my next grocery run to ward against future stupidity!
Well, I hope you enjoyed this first little foray into my new kitchen! If any of you give this a try please let me know how you get on - I would be very interested to hear your thoughts and what variations you use.
Happy cooking!! :-)
