I’ve been posting a lot about blueberries, because they’re bountiful (but soon to be out of season), delicious, and adaptable. This is my newest creation: Southwest Blueberry Soup.
This recipe has been beating around my brain for a few weeks (I mused about it when I made a more dessert-like blueberry soup), and tonight I finally carried out my mad experiment. Mad, I say, because this recipe comes entirely from my own head, and it sounds like it would never work. But it does! It got two thumbs up in my apartment, so there’s independent verification that it’s actually quite tasty and not just weird.
My last blueberry soup was a fairly common sort of cold fruit soup, which you could serve as a side dish or dessert. This one is a main dish all the way. It’s savory, with onions, garlic, cumin, cilantro, and black beans balancing the sweetness of the blueberries. I found the flavor a little hard to define, because it’s a melding of tastes that we don’t usually think of as belonging together – but the combination is just right.
The most striking thing about it is the color: a rich, dark purple, set off nicely by a spoonful of yogurt. I was too hungry when I made it to take a picture of the bowl, and the few pictures I tried later on came out very badly. But this little swatch gives you an idea of how pretty (and striking) it is. When I took leftovers to work, I got lots of curious questions from my coworkers! I suspect the color might be a barrier for some people, maybe because we associate such strong colors with industrial flavors like “blue raspberry.” Does it help that the color is entirely natural? Do dessert colors (like blueberry) make us nervous when they show up in dinner? On the other hand, I bet little kids would totally go for this.
This is one of the boldest recipes I’ve concocted (okay, the boldest successful one), and if you try it, I’d love to hear what you think!
Southwest Blueberry Soup
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed
2-3 cups vegetable stock or water, warm
1 T olive oil
1 small onion (or 1/2 large onion), diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp cumin
salt and pepper, to taste
1 T lemon juice
1 T vinegar
1 T fresh, minced cilantro
Yogurt for garnish
- Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic and saute over low heat until very tender.
- Add cumin, and saute briefly, then add beans and blueberries.
- Add stock, lemon juice, and vinegar. Bring to a boil, then simmer until many of the berries have fallen apart.
- Add cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste. then remove from heat. Let the soup cool for a minute. Puree a bit of it in a blender, then stir back into the pot. (I gave the whole pot a few bursts with my stick blender, which is perfect for this. I think the pureeing helps the flavors mingle. Having it half-pureed gives it a nice texture – smooth, but not too smooth.)
- Serve warm with a generous dollop of yogurt, over rice.
The hardest ingredient to find, aside from the berries, is fresh cilantro. It’s key to the flavor, but not always available. I think Trader Joes used to have frozen cilantro cubes, and those might do nicely here. Anyone know?