Bean Stoup 0

Yesterday, I had a sudden urging for my bean stoup*. I haven’t made it in quite a some time.

I chopped up a couple of stalks of celery and half a large onion. I would have added a bell pepper (green or red–I’m not fussy), but we were fresh out.

I poured a bit of olive oil into my Revere Ware dutch oven (which has served me long and faithfully) over medium heat, let it get up to temperature, then sauteed the vegetables until the onions were translucent.

Next, I broke up a pound of ground beef, added it to the mix, and continued sauteing until the beef was nicely browned.

Then I added one can each of black beans and garbanzo beans (I would have preferred red beans, but I couldn’t find any in the pantry) and one small can each of sliced mushrooms, tomato sauce, and diced hot chili peppers.

I brought the whole thing to a boil, then reduced the heat to its lowest setting–an energetic simmer.

After half an hour, I tasted it and then added spices, as the cookbooks say, “to taste”: ground pepper, basil, dill week, and garlic powder (I should have instead minced several garlic cloves, but, somehow, I short-circuited when I was doing the chopping–as I said, it was a sudden urge). Later on, I decided to add just a bit of sea salt. I should have added a bit of oregano, but short-circuit again.

An hour later, we dished it out, topped it with sour cream, and feasted on a rich and satisfying supper.

And we have enough left over to feast on it again!

____________________

*It’s somewhere between a soup and stew–too thick for a soup, too thin for a stew.