Corn Soup and Black Bean

According to my inner fall clock it’s officially soup season

I’m kicking of soup season with my newest, regular-ist and uber satisfying… black bean and corn soup. I truly should call it black bean soup with sweet corn, charred red pepper and poblano with fire roasted tomatoes soup but I’m thinking that might be a smidgen over the top.

Last week my pleasing friend Nichole and I had lunch at one of my regular restaurants The Clarkston Union. We both ordered the soup of the day, black bean and corn (who wouldn’t!?) and it is certainly without a doubt STANDOUT. As I shoveled the soup into my mouth and in between gabbing about life, I cataloged the ingredients, flavors and textures of this soup and started recipe developing asap.

Let me simply tell you figuring out this soup wasn’t unfussy.

When I asked her about what she thought was in the soup we had conflicting ingredients. I said those red chunks are red bell pepper, right? Nichole said tomato. I said do you taste the poblano pepper… she’s like uhh I think that’s green pepper The cook. GAH? Which is it? I thought about asking the waitress. I do that all the time and it’s probably obnoxious. But I thought against it and so I guess this won’t be a complete copy cat recipe because it’s not likely the chef is going to hand over his recipe to little ol me, but it’s still darn flavor-packed nonetheless.

For this Black Bean and Corn Soup Set out:

• red bell pepper
• poblano pepper
• black beans, un-drained, divided
• olive oil
• celery
• white onion
• fresh garlic
• cumin
• ground chipotle pepper
• smoked paprika
• diced fire-roasted tomatoes
• sweet corn (frozen or fresh)
• low-sodium vegetable broth
• kosher salt
• black pepper
• lime juice
• fresh cilantro, for garnish

Preheat it to medium-high, spritzed a red bell pepper and poblano pepper with a little olive oil and grilled them until the skin bubbled and blistered. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. Then I threw them into a bowl and covered it with plastic wrap so the steam could work its magic in between the flesh and skin of the peppers. You could also do this under the broiler, only keep a watchful eye on them.

After about 15 minutes it was time to peel these beauties.

The skin should easily peel away. I like to keep a garbage bowl nearby so I can chuck the skin, seeds and stems in it as I go.

After the peppers are peeled and seeded I sliced them into strips and then diced them into cubes.

Slice up 2-4 celery ribs {about a cup}, a medium white onion and 5-6 cloves of garlic.

I emptied all the cans of black beans into one bowl, then I measured out about 1 1/2 cups of beans and put them in a different bowl and used my Pampered Chef mix ‘n chunk and smashed them up. This is going to thicken the soup later, so set those smashed beans off to the side for a moment.

In my 4 quart Rockcrock on medium-low heat, I added a tablespoon of olive oil and threw in the celery, onions and garlic.

Once the vegetables start to soften I add in the two teaspoons of cumin, 3/4 teaspoon of chipotle pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of smoked paprika.

Gave those a stir and cooked for 1-2 minutes before adding lots of freshly ground black pepper. About 1/4 teaspoon.

Next add in the fire-roasted tomatoes, peppers, poblano and sweet corn.

Add the black beans that are still whole…

The vegetable broth…

And stir.

Bring to a boil… reduce to a simmer…

Add in the mashed beans, this will help thicken the soup a bit. Let’s face it; mashed black beans aren’t pretty, like at all.

Season with salt. This is entirely to taste. I say about 1-1/2 teaspoons to 2. But you taste and add as you go.

Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile… I made the go-to quesadillas your lips will ever have the pleasure of wrapping themselves around. Mexican three cheese… that’s 1-2-3 cheeses. Lord have mercy.

Spray a large griddle or skillet and preheat to 350 or medium-ish heat. Lay down one tortilla and top with a little of both Chihuaua cheese and jack. Top with from-scratch pickled jalapenos {if you heart so desires} and top with the cotija. Layer another tortilla on top and when the bottom gets crispy and golden, flip. Sprinkle more cheese on the now crispy top and more jalapenos if you wish, and then another soft tortilla. Simply like before, when the bottom gets crispy flip and griddle until golden.

Triple-cheese-triple-decker-quesadilla folks!

Cut into wedges and enjoy.

This black bean and corn soup is memorable. Smoky, vegetable loaded and total guilt-free when you pour yourself another bowl. I mean simply look at those vegetables and beans. All the flavors from the soup I had at lunch the other day PLUS more. It reheats nicely so leftovers are a must… they might even be better than the day before because they’ve merry in the fridge over night.

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Enjoy! And if you give this Black Bean and Corn Soup recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!