Sunday, February 3, 2008

You Can't Handle the Soup!

You want the soup? You can't handle the soup! Oh, Jack Nicholson, that's where you're wrong! I CAN handle the soup!

I found a recipe online that's supposed to mimic the Panera Bread Vegetarian Black Bean Soup that I love so much. I made myself some of that up on Sunday night. Mmm-mmm, mighty tasty. I think this one is a keeper. The Husband thinks I should fine tune it and sell it to Health Food Stores. Hmm, my claim to fame, perhaps?

Here it is, for any that may be interested:

1-onion, finely chopped
2-cloves of garlic, minced
2-celery ribs, finely chopped
1/4-large red pepper, finely chopped
2-small chicken bouillon cubes**
1.5-cups boiling water
2-cans black beans, undrained
1/2-teaspoon of salt
1/2-teaspoon of cumin
1/2-lemon, juice of
1.5-tablespoons cornstarch***

1.) In a pot, combine first six ingredients; simmer for 10-minutes
2.) Add half a can of black beans, salt, cumin; cook for 5-minutes
3.) Puree soup
4.) Add rest of beans to soup
5.) Combine cornstarch with 1.5 teaspoons of water
6.) Add the lemon and cornstarch to the soup; cook until thickened

**I substituted vegetable bouillon for chicken
***I omitted the cornstarch
I also added a little cilantro to the soup before I pureed for a little umph.

4 comments:

apt said...

YUM! I've been looking for a good black bean soup recipe.
Does Panera use chicken stock for their "Vegetarian soup?" Oh no.

Kerri said...

No! Panera's soup is truly vegetarian. I have checked the ingredients on their menu. The PB recipe could not be found anywhere online, so someone out there made this one up. I may tweak the recipe some. It is tasty, however, it might be too onion-y or salty. I have trouble telling b/c I have no sense of smell. The Husband will have to help me (I was blessed to land an amazing cook!). Maybe some more beans to offset the bold flavor or diced tomatoes? Also, w/o the cornstarch it does come out runnier than PB's version, so next time I'm going to add that in.
Let me know what you think if you try it!

apt said...

Phew... thanks for the reassurance.
Kerri, are you a vegetarian too? I don't think I knew.
And we well be trying the soup this weekend. We're totally done with Dill Pickle Soup and are ready for a new soup!

Kerri said...

No, I'm not a vegetarian. I try not to eat much meat though. I can do chicken, turkey and fish, but red meat hardly if at all. The Husband was a true vegetarian (not vegan though) for like 10-years before we married (my little hippie), and he now eats white meat too. So for both of us, it's easy to cook/eat the vegetarian way.
If you're a Panera fan like I am, I pair up the half of Mediterranean Veggie sandwich - toasted - with a cup of Black Bean soup for a delicious, low-fat, vegetarian meal. Now I'm on the prowl for the cilantro hummus they put on the sandwich. :)