Bacony Black Bean Soup

It's been a pretty mild fall this year it seems for everybody. (remember kiddies, winter doesn't start for a few more days!) Despite this, there have definitely been some rainy chilly days where a bowl of soup really is a cure-all after work. I've never made a bean thickened soup, so I decided to give it a go last week. This black bean soup was the perfect mix of smokey bacon, creamy beans, and a trio of onions (caramelized, boiled, and raw) to warm me to the core.

Soak a whole bag of black beans overnight.

The first part of my trio of onions cooking down in bacon grease.

Rinsed beans go in with the veggies and some water.

Just before blending this up, the raw onions finish things off. After it's blended add some red wine vinegar to give it a bite.

Top with chili garnishes like sour cream, cheddar, and scallions. Also the bacon from earlier.

This soup is a real burst of flavor wrapped up in a fairly plain seeming package.

Soak a whole package of dried black beans overnight. Strain and rinse.
Chop up and cook about 2/3s of a pound of bacon till crisp. Remove from pan. Remove a little bit of the bacon grease from the pan if there is a ton, but keep most of it. You want there to still be about a quarter inch. Cook one and a half onions in the bacon juice until very browned, about 10 - 15 minutes. Add a few cloves of garlic and cook another minute or 2. Add in the beans followed by 1 onion, a few carrots, jalapenos, celery, and more garlic. Add water to cover the beans by about 2 inches. Cook this a good hour or so until the beans are softened. Add a raw half of an onion (bringing the grand total to 3 onions) and blend the soup. Season to taste and add about ¼ cup red wine vinegar. Serve with the crisped bacon, scallions, cilantro, lime, sour cream, and cheese.