Cauliflower Curry Soup

My last soup hurrah for the year, as part of Mark Bittman's "Creamy, Brothy, Earthy, Hearty" NY Times Article, was the cauliflower curry soup. If this article would have been published last October, I'm pretty sure I would have cooked from it for weeks. Sadly, it's in the 80s here, so I'll hold on to the other options for a few months. In fact, this recipe would have likely floundered in my files until then except for the fact that I am obsessed with cauliflower soup. I love how close it is in taste and texture to potato soup, but so much lighter. Since the premise of the article was customization, I made a few tweaks in my first making, earlier than I normally would. I couldn't bear the thought of boiling the onions and missing out on the aromatics, so I sauteed for a few minutes in olive oil before adding the ginger, and then the water. As a result I shortened boiling time to around 7 minutes prior to adding the cauliflower. Note: 2 cups of cauliflower is a tiny amount, not even half of a head of cauliflower, so plan ahead for that. The end result was a little magical, almost like eating a light curry sauce by itself (except it's a soup!) without lacking any flavor. I'm wavering on whether I want to try to substitute for the water next time; I may try half vegetable broth. Will let you know.

Black Bean Chili with Butternut Squash

Sometimes it's best to start at the very beginning...

Other times, you realize that it's February, and that poison ivy, a broken foot and the holiday season beget procrastination, and procrastination beget anxiety over your overflowing recipe folder/camera memory card. So let's start with something easy: chili for the S[o]uperbowl.

And when I say chili, I mean black bean soup, and not this black bean soup, which I now want you to pretend you never read on my blog. Back then, I had no idea that what I really wanted was black bean soup with butternut squash... with bulgar wheat... with "fire-roasted" tomatoes... with chipotle chiles with adobe sauce.... with heat, with texture, with fullness and with every trend at Trader Joe's thrown in. Because that's how bon appetit rolls, and I just can't help myself from buying in.

Black Bean Soup with Cumin and Jalapeno

Here's the crazy thing about black bean soup: it is really just healthy chili! I know! The trick is that when you don't call it chili you're not thinking about the things you're missing like you do when you eat veggie chili or even turkey chili. Instead, you're thinking that you can't believe how you can get a smooth, thick, yes, even creamy! texture with no dairy products or dairy substitutes. One genius quick-fix I read in the comments to the recipe was to use a can of Ro-Tel or similar instead of the canned tomatoes/fresh chopped jalapeno (I used a can of mixed tomatoes/Hatch green chiles). If you're already comfortable with the preservatives in canned tomatoes, all the Ro-Tel does is shave off time and make this a pantry meal. Also, if you have an immersion blender and you didn't, for example, stick it in the dishwasher to hide it because company was coming over and then forget to take it out before your housekeeper came and ran said dishwasher, you should use the immersion blender instead of the regular blender and just stop while the soup is still slightly chunky.

The only thing I wish about this recipe is that it photographed better...