Amberdulen asked for the recipes for those soups I made yesterday. The idea of me posting a recipe is kind of laughable, especially since I was basically just chucking stuff in a pot to see what happened, but it occurs to me that I might want to recreate these soups someday, so I'll describe what went down as best as possible.
For the ill-fated black bean soup, I tried to follow this recipe, but ended up straying a lot. (Also, I was using dried beans instead of cans.) I'm pretty sure the failure of that soup was nobody's fault but mine, but I also have no testimony that that's a decent recipe. You know, FYI.
Kickass Lentil Soup
Ingredients:
lentils
carrots
celery
onion
garlic
olive oil
salt
cayenne pepper
oregano
parsley
onion powder
garlic powder (yes, I doubled up on the onion and garlic--I regret nothing)
I used three pounds of lentils, one large onion, and about four cloves of garlic, and I got way, way more soup than I needed, even to last the entire semester. Lentils don't need to be soaked, so just wash them briefly and put them in a big pot with water. (I always need more water than I think, but it's easy to add water as you're cooking, so don't stress over the amount.) Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil, if you like. I did.
Once you've got them on the stove, you can toss in the first batch of seasonings--definitely salt the water, and if you want to throw in the other seasonings, you can. The longer they're in there, the longer the lentils have to pick up the flavor, but on the other hand, it's easier to know what to add once you can taste the soup.
While the lentils are cooking, chop up the onion and garlic. Saute the onion in olive oil, and once it's started getting translucent, add the garlic and saute them both until you're satisfied with them. Then, dump the whole thing, oil and all, into the soup.
You can chop up the carrots and celery while you wait for the lentils to cook. Add the carrots when the lentils are getting pretty soft, almost completely done. (It won't hurt them to cook after they seem done, and you don't want the carrots getting mushy.) Wait until the carrots are getting soft and the lentils are pretty done to add the celery, since it cooks a lot faster than carrots.
Keep adding seasonings throughout the cooking process--I have no idea how much of anything I put in. The only suggestion I have is that a little cayenne goes a long way, so start small and work your way up.
Fun fact: Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a pot of lentil soup. (At least, that's what they told me in Bible class.) I can totally, totally buy it. Lentil soup is amazing.
Three Bean and Ham Soup
Ingredients:
pinto beans
great northern beans
black eyed peas
ham of some kind
onion
garlic
olive oil
salt (but not too much)
cayenne pepper
parsley
onion powder
garlic powder
The best way to get ham would be to wait until you've made an actual ham and then use the bone and leavings--that's what my mom would do. Since I didn't have leftover ham, I bought some at Wal-mart. It shouldn't be nice ham. You can pick up a couple hambones, or something similar for just a couple of bucks. Also, with the beans, I used half pinto beans, a quarter great northerns, and a quarter black eyed peas. But you can do whatever you want.
It's a very good idea to soak the beans first--it reduces the cooking time, and can help cut down on the gas after you eat them. There's lots of information on soaking beans here. Once you've soaked them with the method of your choice, drain off the water. Put the beans in a pan with water and your ham. You can salt the water if you want, but ham's pretty salty already.
Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil exactly as described above--start with the onion, and add the garlic later on. Dump that whole thing in with the beans once it looks good.
From there, you pretty much start throwing in seasonings until it tastes good. Again, a little cayenne goes a long way, but this would taste good either as a really mild soup or as a really spicy one, so have at it. I can't remember if I put oregano in this one--I only had four spices on hand, and I was kind of throwing them around willy-nilly. Do what feels right.
When the beans are completely done, take the soup off of the heat and pull out the ham. Cut away any meat you can salvage from the bone/fat, and chop it up and throw it back in the soup.
I think carrots and celery would not be amiss in this soup either, but I had used all of mine on the lentils. I suspect this would also taste really good with dumplings. (Some people have suggested to me that dumplings belong with chicken, not with ham. Try it, though--you'll like it.)
Dang. Now I'm really hungry, and dinner's not for another hour.
