9200' Black Bean Soup

Beans take forever to cook at altitude but this (primarily) slow cooker method seems to work well. Would probably result in an ungodly mush at sea level though...

Ingredients

• 1lb black beans
• 2 green bell peppers
• 2 small yellow onions (or one large one halved)
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 cups water
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 4tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small (~4oz) jar pimiento chiles 
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Phase One: cook the beans

Put the beans, 1 bay leaf, 1 bell pepper and 1 onion along with the water into a crockpot and cook on high for 4 -  6 hours. The bell pepper needs to be cut in half and have its seeds removed. The onion needs to be peeled and anything funky on root removed but otherwise left whole.

At the end of this time the beans would normally be well cooked if you were at sea level. At 9200' however they need longer. I have found that timing the 4 - 6 hour phase on high so that it ends before you go to bed works out well as you can then put it on for 8 - 10 hours on low overnight and then get up the next morning and complete it.

Phase two: make the sofrito

When the beans are finally(!) soft and well cooked they will still be sitting in a lot of water. This will be remedied by the end though so don't worry. Remove the bay leaf, onion and pepper and discard. Next remove around a third to a half of the beans to a bowl and mash them up (the more you mash up the thicker the end result will be). Keep the beens set aside.

Now make the sofrito: mince or very finely chop the garlic, the second onion and the second bell pepper. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and saute the garlic, onion, bell pepper and pimientos along with the second bay leaf. Give this 5 or 6 minutes. Now stir in the cumin and oregano and cook for a further minute, stirring regularly. Finally add the mashed up beans and cook for a minute or so, stirring to evenly mix everything together.

Phase three: finish it off

Transfer the beans and broth that remain in the slow cooker to a large dutch oven. Stir in the sofrito then add the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.

Bring up to a good simmer and then partly cover with a lid and allow things to bubble away and reduce down a bit for an hour or so. Stir and check every 20-30 mins or so to prevent catching on the bottom of the pan. 

The soup is basically ready when it has achieved a thicker, creamy consistency. Remember to fish out the last remaining bay leaf.

Good served with the usual suspects: white rice, avocado, roasted red pepper, tortillas, sour cream etc.