Roasted Tomato and Black Bean Soup

Holy Hannah. So – I attended a 4-day training program held at a local “medical fitness facility”. The Winnipeg Wellness Institute, if you’re curious.  The meals were catered by the facility. Every little morsel served was absolutely delicious. When we heard that we would be having Roasted Tomato and Black Bean Soup – I think we all inwardly winced. It didn’t sound very good.

Holy Hannah – was I wrong. It was so very tasty. And it was beautiful. Thick tomato red soup with the contrasting black beans. It would be safe to assume that at least half of the group would go on to try to replicate this at home.

I Googled recipes. Nothing quite fit, but I figured I could mash a few of them together. 

Truly. It was
                So
                                Very
                                                Ugly.

I didn’t want to eat it at all. I also didn’t want to buy groceries for the next day’s lunch. I just packed it up. Made a note that this wouldn’t make it on the blog.

And then I tasted it.  Truly. It was
                So
                                Very
                                                Tasty.

And so – I snapped a shot, and decided to go ahead with publishing this terribly ugly, terribly tasty soup.

Roasted Red Tomato and Black Bean Soup

7 tomatoes, quartered
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 Tbs olive oil 
1 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp black pepper 
5 cups chicken broth 
2 540 ml cans black beans
1 tsp cumin 
1 tsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 375F.

Toss tomatoes and garlic with oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper in a large bowl, then transfer to baking sheet. Roast about 40 minutes.

Transfer roasted tomatoes and garlic to a large saucepan. Process with an immersion blender. Add broth, beans, cumin, chili powder, and remaining salt and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer. (Recipes call for 10 minutes of simmering. I simmer for a long time. Maybe an hour? I like the smell to fill the house.)

Serve and enjoy!

(When I try this in the future, I think I might add red peppers into the mix. Maybe one snappy hot pepper, too. It has a nice heat to it as-is – but a variety is nice, and I think that might be a nice bit of variety to start with.)

Dec 31, 2014:  I've been adding rice to the soup lately. About 1 cup of unprepared rice.  Or leftovers. Or wild rice. A colleague has suggested adding pork (yum!). And another has suggested chicken. I think I'll try chicken thighs next.