Chorizo Spices Up This Quick Bean Soup

Call this the “you-don’t-have-to” recipe.

You don’t have to soak black beans overnight. You don’t have to invite 25 of your closest friends to help you polish off the pot.

And you don’t have to wait, nibbling celery sticks for hours, until dinner is ready.

It’s 30-Minute Black Bean Soup, as robust and mellow-tasting as the slow-cooked versions.

It starts with canned beans, a sure convenience. But as cooks know, soups usually need time for the seasonings to blend.

The secret in this recipe is the use of intensely flavored ingredients: chorizo for heat, cilantro for a refreshing hint of anise and lime juice for zing.

Instead of reducing and thickening the soup by simmering it for four hours, puree half the beans and return that to the pan just before the soup is done.

While the soup simmers, prepare a colorful and nutritious salad of Belgian endive, orange slices, Vidalia onions, olives and mint.

30-Minute Black Bean Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 medium sweet red pepper, cored, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 ounces chorizo, crumbled

1 tablespoon dry sherry

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 bay leaf

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, undrained

1 cup chicken broth

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 tablespoon minced cilantro

Salt, freshly ground black pepper

Saute onions, garlic and sweet red pepper in oil in medium pan until tender, about 5 minutes. Add chorizo and cook, stirring, until browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour off any excess fat. Add sherry and stir up any browned bits in pan. Stir in cumin, bay leaf, black beans and liquid and chicken broth. Simmer, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.

Remove half of solids and puree in food processor or blender. Return to pan. Add lime juice and cilantro. Simmer 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Yield: 2 entree-sized servings.

Endive, Orange and Olive Salad

1 cup Belgian endive leaves

1 seedless navel orange, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices

1 small Vidalia onion

6 dry-cured olives

1 tablespoon minced fresh mint

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt, pepper

Line 2 salad plates with endive leaves. Arrange orange slices over endive (2 to 3 slices per plate). Cut onion lengthwise in half, then into thin slices. Sprinkle onions over salad. Add 3 olives to each plate. Top each with 1/2 tablespoon mint.

Stir together oil, vinegar and salt and pepper to taste in cup. Pour half over each salad.

Yield: 2 servings.

MEMO: Bev Bennett is food editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and author of four cookbooks.