Black Beans and Baseball

It's officially autumn, and that for me means two things: baseball playoffs and soup. Tonight, along with some nice crisp weather, I'm getting to enjoy both of those fall classics. (Although to be honest, I'm enjoying the baseball a bit less right now; my Red Sox are losing 2-0 as I write this.)

I've made my fair share of black bean soup in my time, and I've tried a bunch of different recipes. I'm always on the lookout for a new one. Tonight, since I've been going through Mark Bittman's fantastic culinary compendium How to Cook Everything, I tested out his recipe. Pluses: it was fast and easy, it had great flavor (good and spicy), and it was versatile enough that I would feel comfortable using it as a base for some future tinkering. Minuses: it's a little thinner than I was expecting. After it was done, I put a bunch of garnishes on top, and they kept sinking into the soup. Which would have been 100% fine if I hadn't been trying to take a picture of it.

Overall, a delicious, satisfying soup. Now if only the Red Sox would perform as well as this recipe...


Black Bean Soup
Serves 3-4

• 2 Tbsp vegetable/canola oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 3 c. drained cooked black beans
• 4 c. chicken/beef/vegetable stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• sour cream
  
• optional (but recommended) garnishes: cilantro, chopped scallions, grated cheddar cheese, chopped tomato, chopped avocado

Place the oil in a large, deep saucepan or casserole and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the onions and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and chili powder and cook, stirring, another minute. Add the beans and stock and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat to medium-high and bring the soup just to a boil. Turn the heat to medium-low, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat. Puree half the contents of the pot in a food processor or blender (or just mash the contents with a potato masher or large fork). Add the lime juice and stir; taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve, topped with any or all of the optional garnishes.

No Vampires

Have you ever butchered a chicken? You know, taken a whole chicken and hacked at it with a large knife to dismember it? I did yesterday for the first time. It was not pleasant. Actually, that's an understatement - it was kind of awful. It made me want to become a vegetarian immediately. I'll spare you the gory details, but it involved breaking bones. Ugh. I guess it was a good experience, though, because now I know how to do it. If you're ever faced with cutting up a whole chicken, there's a pretty good explanation with diagrams and stuff on p.368 of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, or you can look here.

Anyway, the butchering was worth it because this chicken with 40 cloves of garlic is amazing. This recipe really just screams "autumn" to me. Between the roasting garlic and the cinnamon, the smell it emanates as the chicken is cooking is one of the most delicious aromas ever to grace my olfactory organs. My apartment has never smelled better than it did for an hour last night when I had this chicken on the stove.

Added bonus: all this garlic is a pretty potent vampire repellent.

A glimpse into the pot:

And on the plate:

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Adapted from How to Cook Everything (Mark Bittman)

• 1 whole chicken, cut up, trimmed of fat, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• at least 2 heads garlic, separated into cloves but not peeled
• 1/2 c. minced fresh parsley leaves
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c. white wine or chicken stock

Place the chicken, oil, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, and cinnamon in the bottom of a large saucepan, casserole, or Dutch oven. Pour the wine/stock over all and mix together. Turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Cover tightly and reduce the heat to low. Cook, undisturbed, for about an hour, until the chicken and garlic are very tender. Eat the softened garlic cloves spread onto good crusty bread.