Black Bean Soup & Sweet Cornbread

Winter in Austin is a lot like Summer in Scotland, chilly and wet.  Unlike my dad's neck of the woods, where it's currently 12 degrees, Austin in a Autumnal 53.  Even though we don't have a "real" winter, I still use this time of year to turn my oven on all day and make my whole house smell warm and delicious.  January + Sunday = Black Bean Soup.  Goes together like, Le Creuset and Ground Cumino.  {Which is very well, just in case that isn't clear.}

Black Bean Soup
Adapted from Bon Appétit.  Courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.

The original recipe calls for a slow cooker and takes roughly 6 hours.  Not having a slow cooker or that amount of patience, I've made my soup in a Dutch oven on the stove top.  Cook Beware: Check the liquid in your beans every ~45 minutes.  If you are loosing too much liquid, you have your heat turned up too high. Guess how I learned this lesson...

1 T olive oil
2 medium-size red onions, chopped
1 medium-size red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium-size green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 t ground cumin
1 16-ounce package dried black beans
1 finely chopped jalapeno, seeded
7 cups hot water
2 T fresh lime juice
2 t coarse kosher salt
1/4 t ground black pepper

Optional Garnishes:

Creama Mexicana or sour cream
chopped fresh cilantro
chopped green onion

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and both bell peppers and sauté until onions are translucent, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic,  jalapeno and cumin; stir 1 minute.  Add beans and  7 cups hot water. Cover and cook on low-medium until beans are very tender, about 3 hours. Stir frequently adding water when necessary. {I stirred every 30 minutes, which may be the reason I had to add ~6 cups over the 3 hours.  In retrospect, I realize that my heat was too high. I have adjusted this in the recipe.}  Using an immersion blender, blend soup for 15-20 seconds or until the soup has desired texture. Stir in lime juice, salt, and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls. Spoon dollop of Creama Mexicana into each bowl. Sprinkle cilantro and green onions and serve with warm cornbread.

Serves 6

Sweet Cornbread
Adapted from Jiffy {That's right.}

Okay, this doesn't actually require a recipe, but it's too good not to share.  Sure, I've made cornbread from scratch and it was good.  This, however, is better than good and super easy.

1 package of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
1 egg
1/3 cup of milk
1 T butter
1 T sugar
1/2 finely chopped jalapeno, seeded

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Add butter to a small cast iron skillet and place in oven until butter has melted but not browned.  Mix remainder of ingredients and and pour into cast iron skillet.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until golden and delicious.