Roasted Tomato & Black Bean Soup

I am totally on a soup kick.  The temps are starting to cool.  Leaves are turning those gorgeous jewel tones.  It's dark now when I get up and leave for the day.

These are the days I would really like to come home to a giant pot of goodness already bubbling away.  And a clean house.  And the laundry washed, folded, and put away.  Oh and a perfectly chilled glass of wine.  *sigh*  Ok, back to reality.

The reality is, with this recipe and a little thinking ahead, it comes together in about 10 minutes.  Yes, for real!

Roasted Tomato & Black Bean Soup
Recipe adapted from Ellie Krieger

7-10 medium tomatoes [I used a bunch of plum tomatoes], quartered
1 medium, or 2 small onions, quartered
3 cloves garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
5 cups low sodium chicken stock [Don't do meat? Use a good quality vegetable stock]
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce

1. GET AHEAD TIME: Preheat your oven to 375. On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, toss the tomatoes, quartered onions and garlic cloves in the oil, salt & pepper.  Spread out in a single layer.  Roast for 35-40 minutes, stirring once.  Cool and refrigerate, or move onto step 2 right away.

I love the garden-freshness of this pan

2. Transfer the roasted vegetable mixture to a 4-quart saucepan.  Add the stock, beans, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

The veggies I roasted the day before are ready for the soup pot!

3. Remove from the heat and blend until smooth with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender.  Stir in the hot pepper sauce.  Garnish however you like (my boys went for sour cream and cheese).

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Don't be fooled by the almost milk-chocolatey color of this soup.  This dish has some KICK!!  I'll admit I was pretty free with my "1/4 tsp" of hot pepper sauce.  And yes, I have a really good quality chili powder and didn't bother to level off my measure spoon as I scooped it out of the jar.  But even if you pay close attention to the spice amounts, this soup has heat.  And that's good!!  Between the warm smells of vegetables roasting, and this soup simmering, you want to keep that warming trend as you eat this with some really great spices.

I made some plain ol' white bread for dunking.  But a monster good grilled cheese sandwich would be fabulous as well.