BLACK BEAN SOUP
with jalapeno Sour Cream and Cilantro Salsa
There is a rich history of black bean soup in this country. The one served at the Coach House Restaurant in New York City comes most quickly to mind. But Key West's Black and Cuban folks taught me about their affection for black beans in soups and starches years ago and I immediately came to share in their enjoyment of this earthy, comforting food.
I like to use a smoked stock, but if you must substitute chicken, it's still good. If you are in an area where someone is producing smoked turkey breasts for customers, perhaps you can prevail on him to sell you the carcasses. The smoke of the stock and the sweet taste of the Madeira are my kind of combination.
Serves 10 to 12
Ч2 pound smoked slab bacon, rind removed,
diced small
Ч4 cup olive oil
4 jalapeno peppers, diced small to medium
2 Spanish onions, diced small to medium
6 celery stalks, diced small to medium
1 green pepper, diced small to medium
4 garlic cloves, minced
Ч2 cup ground cumin powder 2 smoked pork hocks 2 bay leaves
2 quarts black turtle beans, soaked in water overnight
1 cup Madeira wine
1 gallon Smoked Stock (page 241), or substitute chicken stock and double the amount of smoked pork hocks Salt and pepper to taste
TOPPING
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
Ч2 cup sour cream
Ч2 red onion, peeled and chopped
2 jalapenos, stemmed, seeded, and finely diced
1. In a large, heavy pan, cook the slab bacon in the olive oil over medium heat. When the bacon is medium-rare, add the vegetables. Reduce the heat and stir. Add the cumin powder.
2. Add the pork hocks and bay leaves and cook a moment more. Add the beans. Add the Madeira and cook 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Add the stock, being sure that it covers the beans by an inch or two, and cook until the beans are just tender, about 2 hours.
4. Remove the soup from the heat and taste. Adjust seasoning as desired. Remove pork hocks. Puree about lA cup of the soup and then mix the puree with the rest of the soup. Keep warm while you prepare the sour cream and red onion salsa.
5. Combine the cilantro leaves and jalapenos with the sour cream. (If you do this ahead of time, keep cold.) Have red onion ready.
6. When serving, ladle the hot soup into bowls (a nice, "peasant"-type bowl befits the style of this soup). Add a dollop of the sour cream salsa and top with chopped onion.
/ love Jeremiah Tower's book, New American Classics, for many reasons. One is his sense of humor. In commenting on flour-thickened sauces, he remarks that they "have recently gained a bad reputation. Like great courtesans, they seem to come and go."
When I used to make this soup in the kitchens of our restaurants, I would try to make it before the other cooks came in. I wasn't hiding anything from them, but I wasn't sure they would understand. Roux was an epithet in those days and we needed to escape the gummy hold it had had on cooking five and ten years ago. Those days are, in the main, gone and it's time to reincorporate roux into the lexicon of cuisine. But, with restraint!
КЛАН AServes 8 to 10
BECHAMEL
42 cup clarified butter 1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed,
1 medium onion, diced medium diced medium
2 stalks celery, diced medium Ч2 cup flour, sifted
1 green pepper, ribs and seeds removed, 2 cups Fish Stock (page 244), at room
diced medium temperature
1 quart cream
Ч4 pound smoked slab bacon, rind removed,
cut into cubes 2 leeks, white part only, cleaned and
diced
2 stalks celery, cleaned and diced Ч2 red pepper, ribs and seeds removed, diced
Ч2 green pepper, ribs and seeds removed, diced
Ч2 yellow pepper, ribs and seeds removed, diced
1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, diced