black bean and sausage soup

Another market day and another market cooking competition. This time it was soup. When I told D about it a while ago, he told me I should make this soup - his favorite. So in the end I did. It's easy and quick and delicious if you like spicy. If you don't you can use a milder sausage and tame it down. But today it wasn't a winner. The winner was a potato and bacon soup. But my soup came in second so my boodle was a bag of dried shitake mushrooms, a bunch of chard, a zucchini and a cucumber and a bag of organic apples - so not bad! I had been the only entry until seconds before the official start of the competition - darn!

Black bean and chorizo soup with spinach (adapted from Six O'Clock Solutions by Eve Johnson and the Vancouver Sun Test Kitchen)


1 tbsp olive oil
3-4 small chorizo sausages cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 medium onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 - 796 mL can on chopped coarse tomatoes
2 c chicken stock
1 - 540 mL can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tbsp chopped, drained sun-dried tomatoes or 2 tbsp sun-dried tomato pesto
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp dried oregano)
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 bunch spinach, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausages and saute for 5 minutes until cooked. Add onion and garlic to the saucepan and saute for about 3 minutes, until tender. Stir in tomatoes, stock, beans, sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, and thyme and bring to a boil. Add the spinach and cook until wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste.