Sweet Potato And Black Bean Soup: Magic In A Bowl...

“Soup is the song of the hearth… and the home.”
Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)

There is nothing quite like a bowl of home made soup on a cold rainy Autumnal day. Usually when making soup I take my time; allowing things to gently simmer for hours, enjoying the process of flavours developing and coming together and breathing in the rich aroma of herbs and spices as they fill my kitchen. For me making soup is very much like brewing up a magic potion. It is a sacred ritual and something to be savoured – I enjoy the process as much as I enjoy eating the soup!

However I do understand that sometimes you just want to curl yourself round a big comforting bowl of soup as quickly as you can. That was certainly the case for me when I went out for a weekend walk and got caught in a sudden downpour. With no where to hide and no umbrella, I got soaked. By the time I got home I was chilled to the bone and to be honest, was also slightly cranky. What I needed was the powerful healing magic of soup!

Fortunately earlier on in the week I bought ingredients to make Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup. While browsing the Spark People website, this recipe shared by member SOUSRATURE, caught my eye. It is extremely healthy, uses an ingredient (black beans or turtle beans) which I have never used before and takes all of 20 minutes to prepare and cook. It did take me a little longer as I don’t have a hand held blender so had to transfer some of the soup into my glass blender. Still the soup was on the table within 30 minutes!

I had always been under the assumption that soup needed to bubble away for ages in order for deep flavours to develop and emerge but this soup was one of the most delicious I have ever tasted. The only changes I made was to use a Spanish Onion, add a pinch of nutmeg (of course) and an extra clove of garlic.
This is definitely a dish I will make again and again. If you love good wholesome tasty soup then do yourself a favour and get in your kitchen and brew up this magical recipe. I promise you’ll love it!

Here is Sousrature’s recipe as seen on Spark People:

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

2 med. sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 cup of rinsed black beans

1 cup sweet vidalia onion, finely chopped

1 tsp chopped garlic

3 cups veggie broth

1-2 bay leaves

.5 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Lightly spray bottom of sauce pan with olive oil and sweat the onion and garlic over low heat.

Add chopped sweet potatoes and beans and cook briefly.

Add water, 3 vegetable bouillon cubes, cinnamon and bay leaf. Turn up heat slightly and cook, covered, for 15 minutes or until sweet potatoes soften.

Remove bay leaf and blend just a bit with hand blender–be sure to leave some nice big chunks of sweet potato for contrast. Pop it back over the heat for a minute, then serve with an optional sprinkling of brown sugar and/or dollop of light sour cream on top.

NOTE: Full of fiber, protein, and vitamins, this soup is filling enough to be a stand-alone meal! The black beans and orange sweet potatoes also look great together. (Tip: Use low-sodium broth to cut the salt content.)

Number of Servings: 2

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup

My Grandmother’s Spinach Soup Served with Hard B...

My Grandmother is an excellent cook and I absolutely adore her food! Every meal she prepares is done so with love and care and is always full of the most beautiful flavours. A few years back when my husband and I were visiting Canada, she made this spinach soup and it has been on our minds ever since. I finally got a hold of the recipe and thought this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. It was just as good as I remembered although I did go a tad heavy on the salt. Never mind, next time I will be much more careful!

This soup makes a great lunch or light supper and it can even be used as an elegant starter – although I haven’t quite mastered the art of making a pretty flower out of hard boiled eggs yet (but I will keep working it!)

So here it is Raija’s Spinach Soup.

Ingredients

1 large Spanish onion finely chopped.

350 – 400 grams of fresh spinach well washed.

1 ½ – 2 tsp butter or a drizzle of olive oil (for sweating the onion).

2 Tbsp butter for making a roux.

2 Tbsp flour.

Chicken stock (approx 2 ½ – 3 cups) – I used Vegetable stock for mine.

Double cream.

Pinch of nutmeg.

1 clove minced garlic (optional).

Pinch of white sugar which helps give the soup some smoothness.

4 hard boiled eggs.

Directions

Melt the 1 ½ – 2 tsp or drizzle of olive oil in a pan. Be careful not to let the pan get too hot if you’re using butter as it may burn.

Add the finely chopped onion and mix well. Put a lid on the pot and allow the onion to sweat for a few minutes. Don’t let the onion get any colour. (I read somewhere that adding salt will prevent the onion from colouring and this is where I went wrong with my seasoning – I added too much salt at this stage! – so be careful).

In a second pot heat the spinach carefully – don’t add any water, butter or oil to the pot. The moisture in the spinach will be enough. The spinach should just go very slightly limp.

Once the spinach is just limp remove it from the pot and squeeze out as much excess liquid as you can.

Chop the spinach into small pieces and set aside.

Now it’s time to begin the roux. In another pot melt the 2 Tbsp of butter and then add the flour.

Do not let this mixture turn brown. Keep it on a moderate heat and gradually add the stock.

Mix it well and allow it to cook for approximately 3-5 minutes as you stir continuously.

Add the chopped spinach and onion to this mixture. Allow it to cook gently for another 5 minutes or so.

You can grate some nutmeg into it, or add some minced garlic at this stage. Also a pinch of white sugar will help give the soup some smoothness.

While the soup is cooking you can prepare the hard boiled eggs. Peel them and cut into halves or quarters.

When you just about ready to serve the soup stir in a good drizzle of double cream and mix well.

Serve with some freshly ground black pepper and the hard boiled eggs pieces arranged in the form of a flower.

Enjoy!

Or as my Grandmother would say in Finnish

Nautiskella!

Spinach ready – now it’s time to make the roux!