another good soup

There is something about black-eyed peas that makes me happy. First, their name: little winking eyes on the small tan beans. Then there is the ease of cooking them and their all around usefulness: hot and cold Then, the taste! Earthy, but still fresh. Wintry, but you can taste spring in the distance.

A retired minister member of my church passed his own black eyed pea jalapeno soup recipe to me several years ago. It was pretty good. I had some dried black-eyed peas waiting in my pantry and I was again hankering for another soup. This is my spin on the original recipe:

1 pound dried black-eyed peas. Cook in a lot of water over low heat til soft. This will take 45 minutes or so. Drain.

1 cup chopped leeks. You could use onion. I had leeks in the garden.

3 or 4 large cloves garlic, smashed and chopped. Add these to the leeks and soften in a little olive oil in a heavy pot. Add a generous handful of salt. As these approach doneness, add 1 qt. good chicken broth. (I used Progresso, low sodium, no msg. It was on sale so I tried it. I liked it a lot.)

Add 3/4 of the cooked beans into the liquid mixture. Mash up the beans with a stick blender or by hand. Then add the remaining beans. Add water to desired thickness. Then add 1 small can salsa verde. Taste. Chop up a fresh jalapeno and add. Taste. Add another jalapeno if you like.

For our dinner I added diced avocado as a garnish. By the way, odd as it may sound, soup is a great breakfast!

I have been eating legume-based soups as a breakfast for the past several weeks. They are easy to heat, taste great and leave your stomach feeling content.

holiday recovery

We survived the holidays: the rich food and the dessert and the parties and my gosh all that chocolate. We’re home, after a nine-day visit with our New England family. It’s time for soup again: hot, spicy, delicious filling soup. Here’s what I put in the pot that’s simmering on the stove:

3 andouille sausages (1pound), sliced
1 chicken breast, cut into 1” pieces
1 largish onion: chopped medium
1 bunch kale, cleaned, stemmed and chopped small-medium
1/2 sweet potato: peeled, diced approx. 1/2 “
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 qt. chicken broth
2 28 oz. cans crushed tomatoes and 1.5 cans water
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crushed
pinch or more hot pimenton
1tsp. honey

I put the chopped onions and the sliced sausage in the pot together and let them cook, covered, on medium low (with about a T of canola oil), stirring a couple of times, til the onions were soft. Then I added the rest of the ingredients, except the chicken breast. When the mixture was nearly boiling, I added the chicken, and brought the temp. down to a simmer.

I am theorizing the sweet potato will sweeten the kale, the kale and pinto beans will add earthiness and the andouille sausage will provide zing. I like the connection with the past by using these traditional southern ingredients, especially this time of year when the garden is asleep.

cold day comfort

OK. It’s been cold. Not the 40 degree with a bit of moisture-feels-kind-of-raw cold we’re used to here in Atlanta, but Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago 16 degree and blustery-cuts-right-through-you-wind cold.

Clearly we needed something really warm to eat… something flavorful, with dimension, something with color. Something… interesting. And it’s the holidays, a time so loaded with rich food that I did not desire anything based on meat or dairy.

I’ve been reading a terrific book by Joan Nathan about Jewish food in Paris. I am sure the following recipe reflects influences from her descriptions of Moroccan food. This can be a stew or a soup, just adjust the liquid to your preferences. I served it on whole wheat couscous for dinner then by itself as a lunch.


2 onions: chopped
1 cauliflower: chopped, not too small
4 garlic cloves: chopped
1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped in cubes
2 cans chick peas, drained and rinsed
1.5 quarts chicken broth, or vegetable broth

1/2 C whole green olives,
2-3 T chopped fresh ginger
1-2 lemons: juiced and zest grated
1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded according to your heat preference
2 T ground cumin
2 tsp. ground ancho chile
1 tsp. marjoram
1/2 tsp. allspice
Bunch of fresh cilantro
cayenne to taste

Soften the onions in butter and olive oil. Remove from pot. Toss the cauliflower in some olive oil and add the cumin, chile and allspice and salt to taste. Cook over high and add the garlic when nearly done: you want it slightly softer than raw, but not really soft. Add the onions back in, and the butternut squash, the broth, the chick peas, ginger and the marjoram. Bring to boil, then cut heat back to simmer. Taste. Add salt as needed. Cook covered til squash is soft. With a fork, mash the squash against the side of the pot so that 3/4 are mashed and 1/4 remain in cubes. The mashed squash will provide body to the liquid.

Add green olives, lemon juice, grated zest and jalapeno. Taste. Adjust seasoning. Before serving, add chopped cilantro.