Week 7: Black Bean Soup and Cheddar Biscuits

This week's meal could not have been easier! Not only was it fast and simple (perfect for those hectic days when you think you'd screw anything else up...kinda like I had yesterday...), but it was absolutely fantastically delicious. I love my spicy food (well, I like a kick, but not anywhere near habenero-pepper levtel), and this meal delivered in that department. If you make these two things together, I would recommend mixing the biscuits up first while the oven is heating, then sauteing the vegetables and getting the soup started. Once the soup is on the stove warming up, you can pop the biscuits into the oven. Both will be ready at about the same time! I think that, on the whole, I am getting better hang of timing dual recipes like this one. I would definitely make this again on a night when I just didn't feel like getting too involved with cooking.

The black bean soup recipe is actually adapted from a website specializing in easy microwaveable meals for college students (I can't find the link right now, sorry...). That's right. I took a recipe originally meant to go from stove to microwave and made it go back to stove. I just think that as long as I am home and have countless resources at my fingertips, I shouldn't waste them by copping out and cooking dinner in the microwave. That's like cheating, Italian-style. Also, interestingly, setting the timer on cooking pasta is also cheating. That's not how we roll in Il Bel Paese--that's Italian for "The Beautiful Country," a term of endearment for the land of my forefathers. As my mom always says, you can tell when stuff is done by the smell (as in, the aromas of the dish fill the kitchen with a magical quality). That's how Italians cook, and that's how I'm trying to cook. I hope to be the kind of intuitive chef that my mother is, but I have my logical scientist brain to contend with, so it will be a long road, to say the least.

Ingredients (serves 2-3 people):

One diced green pepper (I like bigger chunks that are about 0.5 x 1 inch, but you can cut them as you wish)
One diced yellow or white onion (medium, cut similarly)
Two cans of black beans (liquid and all)
One cup of chunky salsa (I used mild, but you can choose whatever heat level makes you happy)
One tbsp olive oil
Two tsp chili powder
One tsp paprika

1. Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add the pepper and onion chunks. Season as you desire (I used a combination of garlic powder, salt, and ground white pepper, the third of which I find I really enjoy because it has a nice flavor without being too overpowering.) Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so.

2. Transfer the pepper and onion mixture to a large soup pot, adding to it the black beans, salsa, and spices. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Note: I doubled the recipe above (so that I was cooking for 4-6 people). In doubling the recipe, I forgot to double the chili powder, so I was actually using half as much as I should have compared to everything else. Now, I think the soup turned out great despite this oversight, but if you want to maintain the proper proportions, please follow what I have typed above. I think the soup would turn out just a bit spicier than I made it (which was okay for me because my mom doesn't like stuff as spicy as I like it).

Another note is that there are endless things to do to "doctor" up your soup--I added shredded cheddar cheese on top plus some Frank's RedHot sauce, one of the greatest inventions in the history of food. I honestly put that stuff on a lot of things (not "everything," as its advertising claims, but pretty darn close). However, Mom also thought it would be good with some cilantro and lime or crushed tortilla chips on top or some cooked chicken and/or cumin thrown in. She and David ate theirs with sour cream in addition to the cheddar cheese. I think another great addition could be soft-shell tortilla strips, guacamole, and/or some chopped jalapeño peppers. I think you could even made a red-bean version of the soup (or a white-bean version, for that matter).

A third note is that I had to supplement the salsa with some extra diced tomatoes because I only had about 1.5 cups of salsa (I needed two in order to accurately double the recipe). I think the result was pretty good, but I would definitely use the whole portion of salsa if you have the means.

Finally, when I doubled the recipe, I used two large white onions, which Mom thought was too much onion. I didn't mind it so much, but if you want less onion, use the one medium onion that I listed in the ingredients. I think it would make the soup more balanced.

The biscuit recipe is something that I found on Cooks.com one day (this was a while ago, so I don't think the original recipe is up anymore, although there are plenty of similar variations). I think Mom was out of town visiting my Nanno (the Sicilian term for grandfather), and Dad and David were making dinner. I wanted to contribute to the meal, and I wanted something really easy to make. That's when I happened upon this gem. Using biscuit eliminates a lot of the time and work, so these beauties come together in a snap and bake up beautifully. One thing I love about this recipe is that, because of the 2/3 cup of milk, it is so easy to double, triple, increase by 1.5 (half again as many biscuits), halve, etc. You can customize it to feed as many people as you need to. I won't say that "F" work I've been using lately because I think you know where I'm going with this.

The link to the closest recipe I can find is as follows: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1945,145184-237196,00.html

Ingredients (makes about nine biscuits):
Two cups of Bisquick
2/3 cup of milk (your choice; I used skim because that's really all we had)
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Mix the Bisquick, milk, butter, and cheese together (use a wooden spoon or a spatula, as the dough will get trapped in a whisk).

3. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto a greased baking sheet and place in the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the tops of the biscuits are lightly golden-brown (ours took about nine minutes, for reference).

Note: A lot of recipes for cheesy biscuits say to use garlic powder either in the mix or in some melted butter that gets brushed on top of the biscuits when they are done baking. Just a suggestion (I did not do this, though).

We ate these two dishes with a side salad that Mom made. Gotta love having my sous-chef/sounding board/idea gal. That's been one of the best parts of cooking and blogging: Mom and I dream up ways to improve the dish for next time.

Overall, we really enjoyed this meal. It was fun for me to make, and again, it was so easy that even though I had a headache and was coming off a really busy day, it was still manageable and enjoyable. I really loved the paprika in the soup. It gives it a nice smoky-sweetness (I love sweet barbecue sauces, like they make in Kansas City), which complements the hit from the Frank's perfectly.  The veggies were also cooked to perfection--not too soft but not too crunchy, either. It was a very satisfying soup, and I bet it would taste even better in the dead of winter, when a warm, spicy soup is just the thing to combat the winter blahs.

And now, for the moment of truth! This week's photographic representation of culinary success...

This dish deserved a table-side picture as opposed to a hot-from-the-oven shot. It really allowed me to get artistic, which is always fun for some right-brained exercise. Huzzah for photogenic meals! (I'm giving you the stink-eye for being difficult last week, stromboli.) Photo enhanced with Instagram filtering.

That's all for this week! Happy eating!