Chorizo-Chard -Black BeanStew

I find soup difficult to photograph - it always looks so flat on the surface and the broth seems to obscure the beautiful colors of the vegetables. Plus in the process of carrying the bowl to the table, inevitably broth and spices get splashed on the sides of what I aspired to be a pristine bowl interior above the broth line. Regardless - I can't complain any more about this soup because a) it made enough to feed us for an entire week (and that's really how I'm cooking now - whipping up one to two large meals or Saturday or Sunday and eating them all week long) and b) it was delicious, reasonably simple, and healthy! This soup is perfect for fall - onion, carrot, celery, chard, canned tomatoes - with black beans and chorizo sausage (or in my case, vegetarian sausage!) to make it a hearty and protein-rich meal!

Aside: I found a new food blog, The Bitten Word, where they came up with this great project to get volunteers to help them cook every single recipe in the six food magazines they receive for a month. The recipes are reviewed & photographed, but they're not "foodie" photographs for the most part - just nice to enjoy people who are all about the cooking and aren't too self-conscious about the photo they take of it (which clearly I am)!

If you don't have black beans, it is entirely possible to make this recipe with lentils (green lentils that won't fall apart in your stew) or cannellini beans - I just didn't have any - and actual chorizo sausage if you are a meat eater. I also just read this interesting comment on cooking dried beans: A cook at Saveur says:  ”Here’s what we found out: soaking dried beans overnight is fine, and even good, in that it reduces the cooking time by at least a quarter, but if you have the time for a longer simmer, then soaking isn’t necessary. As for the quick-soaking method—i.e., bringing the beans to a boil and then letting them sit for an hour—we found that an hour in warm water made virtually no difference in the cooking time, so go for either the overnight soak or none at all. “

Chorizo-Chard-Black Bean Stew
1 c. dried black beans, cooked until medium tender
1 large onion, chopped or finely chopped
1-2 large carrots, diced
2 large stalks celery diced
6 cloves garlic, peeled, sliced
1 quart diced tomatoes and juice (or chopped tomatoes)
6-8 cups fresh chard (leaves only in this measurement - but use the stems in the soup), stems removed and diced, leaves chopped into 1 or 1.5 inch wide strips
4 -5 cups water or vegetable stock (I used 1 veggie boullion cube)
1 lb veggie chorizo sausage, sliced (2 of the artisan grain field meat brand)
oil for sauteing
salt and pepper to taste - if only using 1 veggie bouillon cube, likely to need 1-2 tsp salt


1. Beans - I wasn't prepared and hadn't soaked them over night. If possible, I would do this to reduce the soup cooking time. I used the quick boil method of bringing the beans in 3 to 4 c.of water to a boil, boiling for 10 minutes, and letting sit covered for 1 hour before draining and adding to the soup. They still ended up taking another 50 or 60 minutes of cooking in the soup to become tender.
2. In a big stockpot, saute the onion, carrots, celery and garlic in oil for a good 8-10 minutes until everything is nicely colored and the onion is turning golden/translucent. Add the chard stems and saute briefly.
3. Add in the water (or stock) and bouillon, salt, and the black beans. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 40 minutes until the beans are tender.  (this is important to make sure they're tender BEFORE adding the tomatoes).
4. Add the quart of tomatoes and the sausage and bring to simmer.
5. Add the chard leaves in and let simmer until wilted.Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.
6. Serve with cheese toast, or possibly some crumbled goat cheese on top.