What I love about this dish is the comfort it brings to my soul. The combination of chorizo and cayenne pepper is one spicy duet that I can never say no to. And now that autumn is about to forsake us until next year (cue tears) and winter is finally making its presence known, I need this type of cozy dish to keep me warm during these long cold nights.
Pinto bean, black bean and chorizo soup courtesy of Allegra McEvedy in The Guardian
75g dried pinto beans
75g dried black turtle beans
250g good-quality raw chorizo sausages
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 red pepper, medium diced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 x 400g tin of tomatoes
1-1.5l chicken stock
1/5 savoy cabbage, chopped
A big handful of coriander, chopped
Salt and pepper
Soak the pinto and black turtle beans in cold water overnight. Next day, drain them, cover them with fresh water and cook them in their own pots. Cook them all the way through but not to total collapse. Dice the chorizo into medium cubes and get your oil warming in a deep, thick saucepan. Sizzle the chorizo until it has browned and that red oil starts to seep out but beware: the golden brown sausage and lustrous red oil can quickly turn to brown-black in an instant if the heat is too high.
Stir in your spices, red pepper, garlic and onion; turn the heat up a bit and cook until translucent and all well mingled together. Season with sea salt.
Add the tomatoes, let it all burble together for around 10 minutes, then add a litre of stock and reduce on a well-maintained simmer for 20 minutes.
Drain the beans, keeping about half a litre of the cooking liquor, and then stir the beans, liquor and the cabbage in well. Cook for another 20 minutes, letting the soup simmer down to a pleasing thickness, and turn off the heat for a bit of a rest. Give it five minutes with a lid on to let the flavours settle.
Check the seasoning and consistency, letting it down with the remaining stock if you fancy, and stir in the chopped coriander before serving.
• Extracted from Leon: Ingredients and Recipes, by Allegra McEvedy, published by Conran Octopus.
Image taken from Roshani's website.
Playlist to go with this dish:
Breaking the Girl-Red Hot Chili Peppers
Breaking the Girl-Red Hot Chili Peppers
Police and Thieves- Juno Marvin
Lisa Loeb - Stay (I Missed You)
Maxwell - This Woman's Work
Corinne Bailey Rae- Put Your Records On
Jose Feliciano - Ain't No Sunshine
