As a quick follow up to my previous Black Bean Soup post a while ago, I made this the other evening and this time, with no pine nuts on hand, I sauteed about eight 1/4" banana slices til golden brown (a tad too long obviously, like the above mentioned pine nuts...) then placed them on top of the soup.
And what wine to drink, you ask? I couldn't answer it myself so I asked Master Sommelier, professionally trained French chef, author, speaker, writer, mom and all around genius wine guru Andrea Robinson and she recommended a Rhone or a Rioja. For the Rhone, I of course jump up and down and shout for Domaine Rouge-Bleu from St. Cecile des Vignes but then again I am a bit biased :)
So from the top...
Ingredients:
* 1 can of Progresso black beans, drained
* 1/4 cup water or broth
* sea salt, fresh ground pepper
* herbes de provence
* 1 T plain yogurt (see note below)
* 1/2 banana, 1/4" thick slices
* optional: brown rice
1. In a pot, combine 1 can Progresso black beans, 1/4 of that can of water or a 1/4 can broth or whatever you have on hand, pinch sea salt, a few grinds of fresh ground pepper, a few pinches of herbes de provence. Bring to a boil then simmer low for a few minutes to combine flavors. This should take about 5-7 minutes depending on your stove.
2. While the soup is cooking, make brown rice. I use Success boil-in-a-bag brown rice. This is of course optional (as is everything!) but it adds texture and a heartiness to the soup.
3. Cut 8 - 1/4" sliced of banana. Saute on each side til golden brown (not burned like I did above!).
4. When the soup is done, puree it in the pot with an immersion (aka stick) blender. Don't dirty the blender or cuisinart if you don't have to. One less big thing to wash.
5. Put a scoop of brown rice in the bottom of a bowl. Ladel the black bean soup over it. Add a dollop of plain yogurt, swirl it around with the tip of a paring knife. Top with the sauteed bananas.
Et voila! In literally 10 minutes you can have a delicious soup. The bananas add a sweetness, the yogurt a tang, both great contrasts/complements to the earthy soup. Simple, fast, healthy and pretty darn good if I do say so myself :)
Bon appetit!
note: If you don't have any yogurt on hand, then a squeeze of a wedge of lime will give it that tangy kick!
Interesting combonation of ingredients, all my fav's mixed together. Will be trying this for sure.
Posted by: kim | Thursday, 21 January 2010 at 08:07 PM