Recipe: Black bean soup with chorizo sausage

Black bean soup makes a healthy, hearty meal

Black bean soup is one of those perfect cool-weather dishes. A thick stew with beans, aromatic vegetables and warm spices like cumin and chile, it's a healthy one-pot meal. It's fine in its pure vegetarian version, but this one uses crumbled chorizo sausage; bacon's a good choice too. Make it a day or two ahead - it gets better as it sits - and garnish to your heart's content with cheese, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, diced avocado, and hot sauce.

More healthy soups: Creamy cauliflower soup * Lettuce soup with tarragon * Beta carotene soup

Black bean soup with chorizo sausage

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 pound uncooked chorizo sausage, casings removed (substitute andouille or other spicy sausage)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 6 stalks celery, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Salt to taste
• 1 pound dried black beans, rinsed and picked over
• 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

In a large pot, heat the olive oil. Brown the sausage meat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon into small pieces as it cooks. Add the onion, celery, carrots, and bell peppers, and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, sprinkle with salt, and saute one minute more. Add the beans, tomatoes, chicken stock, water, and spices to the pot. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, cover the pot, and simmer gently about 2 hours, until the beans are soft and the flavors have blended. Puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender in bursts, leaving it a little chunky. Serve hot garnished with shredded cheese, sour cream, diced avocado, crushed tortilla chips, or croutons.