Fall!!!

It's fall and that means soups & stews & chili for dinners here. Tonight it is Black Bean Soup with homemade croutons. Here is the recipe:

Sausage & Black Bean Soup
3 cups dried black beans
1 3/4 lb chorizo, andouille or spicy sausage ( I used a turkey kilbasa)
1 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely minced (I microplaned mine)
2 yellow onions, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
2.5 quarts chicken or meat stock
4 T chopped parsley
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1/2 T salt
1/2 cup sour cream
2 T finely chopped fresh chives
2 T finely chopped fresh cilantro

Sort through the beans, discarding any impurities or discolored ones, set aside
Remove the casing from the sausage. In large saucepan, warn the oil over medium heat. Add sausage and saute, coarsely breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. (or just cut the sausage up into cubes like I did) Pour all but about 3 T of the fat. Return the pan to the heat and add garlic, onions and celery and saute until the onions are translucent, 2-3 minutes.
Add beans, stock, parsley, oregano, cumin and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently until the beans are very tender - 2-2.5 hours, adding half of the salt halfway through the cooking and adding a little water if necessary to keep the beans moist.
Discard the bay leaves. Pour a few ladelfuls of the beans into a food mill, food processor fitted with a metal blade or blender: (or use one of those hand held blender things but make sure that the soup is in a deep container when doing it or what you get is black beans soup splattered all over your shirt and the kitchen counter, and make sure that it has cooled off a bit so that you don't burn yourself when doing this) Stir back into the pan with the remaining salt. (before you add the remaining salt be sure to taste it. I found it was fine without the added salt)
Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with sour cream, chives and cilantro. Enjoy with home make croutons too!