2014 Vegan MOFO - Day 16 - Roasted Poblano and Black Bean Soup

This story has absolutely nothing to do with cooking, but I want to tell it anyway. I am the youngest of three kids. If you are a parent or the baby of a family with more than two kids, you can probably relate to how parents slip a little when it comes to acknowledging their youngest offspring. It is not intentional or malicious or because they love them any less. It is likely they are mentally and physically exhausted after raising the older sibs. Or perhaps with their wisdom, they realize that if not every single thing is a big deal with their kids, there is a good chance they will still be well-adjusted adults.

At a very young age I realized my mom had this affliction. There were fewer photos of me, I wore hand me downs, I got to stay up later then the older two did at my age. But the most obvious slippage was my birthday. Mind you, my mom always remembered my birthday, she just managed to get the date wrong most years. She would also make us our favorite cake for our birthdays, well kind of. I was a chocolate lover from word go. A couple of years inadvertently made my brother's favorite: Strawberry. I was a sassy little kid, so she never got a hall pass. I always gave her a hard time. For most of my childhood, there was a debate as to my real birthdate. We often celebrated today, the 16th. After several years of mentioning to my mom I was pretty sure the date was wrong, my birth certificate was drummed up only to realize the mistake…mom's recollection was two days off. So happy fake birthday to me! 

I'm not sharing this story out of bitterness or self pity. I'm actually pretty amused about it these days. Actually the older I get, the more I can relate to her little slips. I don't even have kids, but life gets busy and some things just fall out of the memory. I'm just grateful she was thoughtful enough to make a cake and later my favorite dinner on my birthday. I now usually call her on my real birthday to say "Thanks for going through labor to get me here, you did all the work". 

To celebrate my un-birthday, I decided to make something nice and sassy and spicy (as I have been accused of being by many members of my family). Today's Chow Locally ingredients are:

Poblano Peppers from Crooked Sky Farms - Poblano peppers are a fun summertime treat as they are larger and milder than many peppers. Sore on the countertop and then try stuffing with favorite ingredients. My note: I didn't stuff these as I have already stuffed some peppers this month. These had a bit more kick than I'm used to in a Poblano = Happy Kimmy.

Yellow Onions from Sleeping Frog Farms

Roasted Polbano and Black Bean Soup

6-8 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large yellow onion, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 large carrot, diced small (about 3/4 cup)

1 large tomato, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 medium poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and diced small 

1 teaspoon hot chile powder (you can use mild if you like it less spicy)

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

2 - 15 oz. cans black beans (do not drain or rinse you want those juices for flavor)

2 cups vegetable broth

In a 4 quart pot, warm olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and carrots and sauté until they are just soft and onions are translucent, about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning or sticking. Add garlic, tomato and poblano peppers and sauté for another minute or two. Add chile powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and coriander. Saute until fragrant, about 1 minutes. Add black beans and vegetable broth. Stir to combine. When soup just starts to boil, reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes. Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and vegan sour cream if desired (optional).