Project Weeknight: Pumpkin & Black Bean Soup

Wow, I have been slack this week, haven't I?

This Pumpkin & Black Bean Soup from Epicurious definitely meets the criteria for a Project Weeknight dish, with a few caveats. Earlier this week we made it pretty much as written, sans cilantro (bleck!), and we had to use full-fat coconut milk instead of light. The result was w-a-a-y too thick, under-beaned, and under-seasoned, but it had potential. I do blame the wrong coconut milk for some of the problems, but not all.

Also, we ended up having to make a double batch (long story involving a gigantic can of pumpkin) so we had tons of it left over. Last night I took a couple of cups of it and modified it into something that got big thumbs up.

Taking hints from the comments on the original recipe, I sauteed half an onion and a clove of crushed garlic until mostly done. I added another can of black beans (drained), a good tablespoon of cumin, a few teaspoons of a mild chile powder, and a splash of stock and simmered for a few minutes. Since I was adding it to an already-cooked soup, I wanted it to be mostly done.

Then I added a couple of cups of the leftover soup and enough stock to thin it to where I wanted it. Simmered that for awhile and added some salt, and that was that.

It came out pretty darned good, even more so with chopped avocado on top. Got a thumbs up from the kid and the SO, too.

It'll be awhile before I can recreate this version from scratch and write up the recipe - I still have two more 'soup base' portions in the freezer to use up. Hope we don't get sick of it!