Easy: ***
Tasty: ***1/2
Tonight I made a Mexican influenced dinner of fish tacos with salsa verde and black bean soup. The fish tacos were great! The salsa verde was awesome! The black bean soup... Well, it was fine. And it's getting better at this very moment!
I began making the soup and the salsa at the same time. The soup needs to cook a few hours, and the salsa needs to cool in the refrigerator for a while. Even making these the day before would be good.
I followed the instructions of the soup, but I found that it needed to cook longer. The beans had not absorbed enough water. John also commented that most black beans in soup are mashed, and there needed to be more vinegar (you should be able to taste it a bit). We have put the soup back on the stove, mashed those suckers, added vinegar until it was a smidge tangy, and are seeing what a bit more cooking will do.
During the first part of cooking the soup (before sauteing the onions and peppers), I prepared the salsa. This was simple to make and it turned out deeeeee-licious!!! I poured it into a jar & refrigerated it for about 2.5 hours before eating.
For the tacos, I used tilapia, but any white fish will work fine. I seasoned the filets with coarse salt, fresh ground black pepper, cumin, and paprika, and cooked them with olive oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat. It took about 10 minutes. You can also use a fish coating or even broil the fish. Once the fish is cooked, I cut it into 1" strips.
I also made a side of packaged yellow rice. This can be layered in the taco and/or served on the side. I used low-fat, low-carb spinach wraps (though they weren't as soft as a flour tortilla would've been). I layered the fish, rice, diced tomatoes, shredded cabbage, shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado slices, and salsa verde to make the tacos.
I topped the soup with a little shredded cheese and sour cream.
Black Bean Soup
1 pound dry black beans
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
1 Italian frying pepper or Cubanelle, halved
Olive oil, for sautéing, plus 1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, large diced
1 red pepper, large diced
1 green pepper, large diced
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 cup white vinegar
Salt
Sort through the beans to remove any split beans and stones (which are frequenly in the package).
In a large stockpot, cover the beans with water, covering them by 2 inches. Add bay leaf, cumin, oregano, and Italian pepper. Simmer until the beans are tender, about 45 minutes. (OR LONGER!!!)
After 45 minutes, remove the pepper.
In a sauté pan, sauté onions, and red and green peppers until translucent. Puree in a blender. Add to the beans.
In the same pan, sauté the garlic. Add to the beans, along with 1/4-cup olive oil, sugar, and vinegar. Season with salt and continue to cook until very thick, about 45 minutes. (OR LONGER!!!) Garnish with finely chopped red onion, shredded cheese, and sour cream.
(adapted from Alex Garcia via the Food Network)
Salsa Verde
1 1/2 lb tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 lime
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 Jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
Salt to taste
Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well. Cut in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skin.
Place tomatillos, juice of one lime, onions, cilantro, Jalapeño peppers, sugar in a food processor or blender and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed. Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.
(adapted from Simply Recipes)
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