Black Bean And Madeira Soup

Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 lb dried black beans
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 leeks, part only, washed well and finely diced
• 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and finely diced
• 3 stalks celery, finely diced
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt, to taste
• 1 cup madeira wine, plus
• extra madeira wine, for finishing
• 2 chipotle chiles in adobo, chopped, to taste (i usually use 3, but i like this on the spicy side !)
• 1 bay leaf
• 10 -12 cups water
• sour cream (to garnish) (optional)

Recipe

• 1 sort beans carefully, removing any stones.
• 2 place beans in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover by three inches.
• 3 soak overnight.
• 4 heat olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot over medium heat.
• 5 add garlic, leeks, bell pepper, celery, carrots, and thyme.
• 6 sprinkle with salt and mix well.
• 7 sauté until soft, but not browned, about 10 minutes.
• 8 add 1 cup madeira and cook until liquid reduces by half.
• 9 stir in beans, bay leaf, chipotles and 10 cups water.
• 10 bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally and adding additional water if needed, until beans are very soft, about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.
• 11 transfer to blender in batches and puree until smooth.
• 12 reheat if necessary.
• 13 i usually purée only half, as i like a little more texture in the soup.
• 14 to serve, ladle into bowls and spoon a little sour cream into center if you like.
• 15 drizzle a couple of teaspoons of madeira around the sour cream and serve.