San Francisco Black Bean Soup

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The dish was created by celebrity chef Jeremiah Towers of the San Francisco Balboa Cafe — a restaurant with a rich 100 year history. The recipe was originally published in “Best Recipes from the Los Angeles Times”, 1989.

This dish can be served as a main entree as it is rich and satisfying. You can bet someone will always ask for seconds. And if you’re serving vegetarians, it’s so flavorable, that you can eliminate the ham bone and you’ll still have a richly flavored soup.

In the rare case you’ll have any leftover beans, make a delicious and hearty breakfast by placing a fried egg over a base of thickened black bean soup as illustrated in one of the photos below.

Ingredients

Makes 8 servings – I’ve listed the ingredients as they were published but I note my amount preferences in parenthesis alongside the original.

2 lbs black beans, washed and drained

1 large onion, peeled

2 medium carrots, peeled

2 stalks celery

1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled (4 cloves)

1 meaty ham bone or about 1/2 lb. ham scraps

1 bay leaf

3 or 4 sprigs parsley, stemmed

Dried thyme

1 to 3 cups mixed-meat, chicken or duck stock ( 2 cups chicken broth + 2 cups water)

3 to 4 tablespoons ancho chile powder (2 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons ground cumin (1 tablespoon)

Salt

Sour cream

Half and half milk

Note: If ancho chile powder is not available, substitute any pure ground chile powder, adjusting the amount to taste.

Preparation

Combine the beans, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, ham bone, bay leaf, and parsley in a large heavy pan, Season with thyme. Cover the beans with stock and water and bring to a boil; reduce the heat and simmer until the beans are tender, at least 2 hours. Add more stock if necessary to keep the beans covered with liquid.

When the beans are tender, discard the bay leaf. Purée the bean mixture using a food mill or hand blender. Texture should be slightly gritty rather than completely smooth. Add chile powder, and season to taste with cumin and salt. Add enough additional stock to get the consistency of pancake batter. Heat through gently, stirring often to prevent sticking.

Serve at once, or cool and refrigerate until ready to serve. Place the soup on the top of a double boiler to reheat. To serve, ladle soup into shallow bowls and swirl several tablespoons of sour cream thinned slightly with half and half over the surface. Spoon a dollop of Jeremiah’s salsa in the center of each bowl.

JEREMIAH’S SALSA

2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

2 medium red onions, cored and chopped

4 large garlic cloves, minced

2 serrano chiles

1 bunch cilantro

Juice of 3 or 4 limes

Combine the tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Split the chiles; remove the seeds and the thin edge of the ribs. Julienne the chiles and mince. Chop the cilantro leaves finely. Add chiles and cilantro to tomato mixture. Stir in lime juice to taste. Chill well. Makes about 2 cups.

Note: For this dish, this salsa with or without chile also works well.

Makes a satisfying breakfast too.