Every food blogger dreams of walking out of their day job and never looking back to pursue a full-time career in food. Most keep this as a fun little pipe dream to think about while sipping on their morning coffee. Michael Natkin, however, did the unthinkable. He took a sabbatical from his job as a software engineer and spent 6 months immersed in food, experiencing Italy and Israel through food with his family and interning in the kitchen at Cafe Flora. He dove into the world of food full time this year.
His blog, Herbivoracious, has been going strong since 2007. If you’ve never seen it, go there. Now. I’ll wait…. Fantastic, right?!
Michael’s cookbook based off his super popular blog, Herbivoracious: A Flavor Revolution with 150 Vibrant and Original Vegetarian Recipes, was released on May 9. Michael has been touring America to promote his book and recently came through Philadelphia. He hosted a food blogger event at the fantastic R2L, where local bloggers (like yours truly) were treated to bites from the kitchen and the opportunity to chat with Michael himself.
So, the cookbook is vegetarian. It honestly doesn’t even need to be mentioned though because the recipes inside the pages of this book are not wimpy, skimpy meals. As his blog states “You Don’t Have To Be A Vegetarian To Love This Cookbook!” and he is so right. The recipes are really inventive and sound so appetizing that you won’t even wonder where the meat is. Michael kindly allowed me to pick any recipe I wanted from the book to use for this post and boy did I have a problem. I am not exaggerating when I tell you I tagged over 50 recipes as possibilities.
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I finally decided on this recipe for Black Bean Soup with Orange Jalapeno Salsa when I mentioned it to my boyfriend and his eyes lit up. I altered the recipe ever so slightly, so check out the original at the link. You should check it out anyways because Michael gives some really great tips prior to the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 6 cans black beans
- Vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle
- 6 mandarin oranges (or fewer, larger oranges)
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
- 1jalapeno pepper, finely diced
- 1 handful cilantro leaves
- salt to taste
- Sour cream
Each recipe in the cookbook mentions any dietary restrictions that are satisfied within the recipe. This soup is vegetarian, vegan if the sour cream is omitted, and is gluten-free. This recipe serves 6.Â
 Drain and rinse the black beans.
Add the beans and bay leaves to a large pot (like a pasta pot). Add not quite enough vegetable broth to cover the beans. Bring to a simmer.
While waiting for the beans to simmer, heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, garlic, and a big pinch of salt.
Saute for 5 minutes or until the onions begin to brown. Combine the oregano, cumin, paprika, and chipotle powder. The original recipe called for smoked paprika. But for the life of me, I couldn’t find any. Blargh. So I added some chipotle chili powder to to add a bit of smokiness.
Add to the saute pan and mix to combine. Cook for 1 minute and remove from heat.
Take the bay leaves out of the beans and add the onion mixture to the beans.
Mix to combine.
Remove the pot from heat (I just moved it to another burner) and puree the beans. I’m still figuratively and literally scarred from my experience trying to puree soup prior, so I use an induction blender.
If you’re going to use a normal blender, please please be careful. The soup is super hot and it can explode. Blend in batches. Puree the beans to your liking. I’m a fan of around a 90/10 puree. Mostly smooth with a little bit of texture.
Return the mixture to heat and season to your liking. I added another generous pinch of salt and another sprinkling of paprika and chipotle powder. Simmer for 15 minutes.
While waiting for the flavors to meld, you can make the salsa. To cut the oranges into supremes (a term I learned from this cookbook), cut off all the skin of the orange.
Using a paring knife, cut in between the membranes of the orange to cut out slices.
Combine with the red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and a pinch of salt.
Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the salsa and some sour cream.
Impressive looking, no? I would never ever think to garnish a black bean soup with oranges but it was just perfect. Each time I bit into a piece of orange, I couldn’t wait for another burst of citrus.
The soup itself has plenty of flavor so if you’re not in the mood for the salsa, you can skip it, although it is pretty amazing. I had this for lunch the next day without the salsa or sour cream and it was still lick-the-bowl good.
What I love about this recipe, and tons more in the cookbook, is that you don’t need crazy tools to make it. The recipes are approachable for every level of home cook, which is so refreshing!
Black Bean Soup with Orange-Jalapeno Salsa
Ingredients
- 6 cans black beans
- Vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 white onion, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle
- 6 mandarin oranges (or fewer, larger oranges)
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely diced
- 1jalapeno pepper, finely diced
- 1 handful cilantro leaves
- salt to taste
- Sour cream
Instructions
- Drain and rinse the black beans.
- Add the beans and bay leaves to a large pot (like a pasta pot). Add not quite enough vegetable broth to cover the beans. Bring to a simmer.
- While waiting for the beans to simmer, heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a saute pan. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, garlic, and a big pinch of salt.
- Saute for 5 minutes or until the onions begin to brown. Combine the oregano, cumin, paprika, and chipotle powder.
- Add to the saute pan and mix to combine. Cook for 1 minute and remove from heat.
- Take the bay leaves out of the beans and add the onion mixture to the beans.
- Mix to combine.
- Remove the pot from heat and puree the beans to your liking.
- Return the mixture to heat and season to your liking. I added another generous pinch of salt and another sprinkling of paprika and chipotle powder. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- While waiting for the flavors to meld, you can make the salsa. To cut the oranges into supremes (a term I learned from this cookbook), cut off all the skin of the orange.
- Using a paring knife, cut in between the membranes of the orange to cut out slices.
- Combine with the red onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and a pinch of salt.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the salsa and some sour cream.
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I pretty much love black bean soup! One of my most favorite things in the whole wide world. Yours looks great!
Saw the preview pics on facebook and it looks as good then as it does now.
What a great recipe, this looks super delicious! 🙂
I love flavor surprises! The idea of orange in the bean soup sounds SO delicious!
Orange-Jalapeno is a great addition to the black bean soup! Thanks for the idea.