Since the Groundhog seen his shadow a month or so ago, predicting another 40 days of winter, we’ve been pining for some warmth even more than usual. We thought about packing up and heading for Mexico or the Caribbean like everyone does, when they’re worn out with winter but instead we decided to bring a bit of the Islands here to our little kitchen on the High Plains.
Cuba, Jamaica and a number of other Caribbean islands make a traditional soup, with peppers and black beans as the main ingredients. This classic soup has a way of lighting up the day like sunshine. It just sort of bathes you in light and warmth and besides that, it’s irresistable. So we checked what we had in the pantry that we could throw into the soup pot to create some heat.
Pantry Party
We mixed and matched a bit, reviewing a few recipes to see what we could substitute. In the end we came up with an exceptional combination of ingredients. It didn’t bring quite as much heat as a few Jamaican renditions I’ve tasted. They like scotch bonnet peppers, and I do too but Vickie’s not a fan. So, we substituted some chile powder from Hatch, New Mexico – “the best chile powder in the world.” We also added some “Mexican” oregano because it’s crazy good in just about any spicy food you want to create. Do yourself a favor and stock some in the pantry.
We also added a squeeze of “Amore” double concentrated tomato paste, from Italy. This stuff is another magic ingredient anytime you fire up the soup pot. The next best thing to garden fresh tomatoes. Turtle Island seemed like the perfect name for a crossover soup blending all the amazing colors, textures and flavors of the Caribbean Islands with some Mexican, New Mexican and Italian staples. So if you’re pining for the sunny warmth of the Islands, check out the recipe and make your own version of “Turtle Island Soup.”
Pairs really well with a nice Argentinian Malbec, if you need to take the sunny disposition up a notch or two ;>)
Turtle Island Soup
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Le Creuset Dutch Oven , a stock pot will work too.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 red onion diced
- 2 medium bell peppers diced, I used red and green
- 5 small jalapēnos, sliced from last years garden
- 3 garlic cloves chopped fine
- 1 lbs pork loin diced small
- 32 oz beef bone broth
- 32 oz water more or less
- 1 tbsp chili powder from Hatch, New Mexico
- 2 tsp smoked paprika more or less
- 1 tsp cumin more or less
- 1 tsp "Mexican" Oregano more or less
- 2 tsp Sea Salt more or less
- 1 dollop "Amore" Tomato Paste double concentrated
- 2 cups dried black (Turtle) beans cooked in the Instant Pot – about 13 minutes
Instructions
- Soak the beans for a good long time and change the water once or twice. It's the secret to getting a wonderful creamy texture. Even more important, it significantly reduces gastronomic distress and flatulance as well as making the beans much more digestable. This is the only real prep work besides a little knife work with the veggies and pork loin.
- Dice all the veggies up first. I usually put them together in the same bowl and saute them all togeher while cutting the pork loin.
- Heat the coconut oil and saute all the vegetables for about 5 to 8 minutes. Add the diced pork and contintue to saute until all the pink fades away. Add the bone broth and water and crank up the heat to get a burble going. While you're waiting, crush all the seasonings together with a mortar and pestle.
- Stir the seasonings in and simmer for awhile, lid on or off depending on the thickness you desire. If the pork is small, 30 to 45 minutes is about right for the pre-bean simmer.
- Give the beans a final rinse out of the Instant Pot and add them to the soup. Get everthing back up to a slight burble and cook for another 20 or 30 minutes to get all those happy, sunny flavors a chance to get to know each other.
- Adding some chunky Avocado pieces before serving is fun but not necessary.