After we had the pot pie, I covered a pound of black beans with an inch of water, and left them to soak overnight. They cooked up pretty quickly the next day, with a tablespoon of cumin and a couple of smashed garlic cloves. I guess close to two hours isn’t that quick, but I’m a pessimist when it comes to cooking beans from scratch.
Here’s what I did to make a surprisingly excellent black bean soup.
I cut three slices of smoked bacon into batons, then cooked them over medium heat until a fair amount of fat had rendered out and they were a little shy of crisp. I removed the bacon with a slotted spoon, then added a chopped onion and two minced garlic cloves to the hot fat. After they had softened, I dumped in three cups of cooked beans, a cup of the beans’ cooking liquid, and three cups of that chicken stock. Then I added two tablespoons of the adobo from a can of chipotles. I let the whole thing simmer for maybe twenty minutes, stuck the immersion blender in to partially puree the thing, then added back in the bacon and stirred in some chopped cilantro. A squeeze of lime at the table (ok and some oyster crackers) and we were off.
