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Monday, February 18, 2008

Black Bean Stoup and Southwestern Monte Cristo Sandwiches

This was another meal I saw Rachael Ray make on 30 Minute Meals last week. SP is always asking me to make soup and he's been jonesing for a Monte Cristo recently, so Black Bean Stoup and Southwestern Monte Cristo Sandwiches seemed like a good idea.


While we liked both of the components of the meal, we agreed they didn't go very well together. The flavors in the soup were great, but it was quite spicy so next time I'll cut down on the Tabasco sauce. This soup would go great with a simple cheese quesadilla.

The Southwestern Monte Cristo was also excellent, with a nice sweetness from the honey ham tempered by the spice of the pepper jelly:


... but would have worked better with French fries or even regular tortilla chips. It really needed to stand on its own. All in all the soup and sandwich were both winners, but, in our opinion, make a better meal when served separately.

7 comments:

  1. That dinner looks absolutely delicious! I'm not huge on mac-n-cheese, but you make me want to have some of yours!!
    And of course, what a cute cat - sometimes our cat Benny will sleep in the most unusual ways too!

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  2. What a great idea! This looks sooo good. Especially on a cold February evening. yum!

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  3. I've been meaning to try this Black Bean Stoup recipe. The Clumsy Cook suggested it a few weeks ago when I asked if anyone had good black bean soup recipes.

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  4. I have the recipe too (obviously) - I can see how they wouldn't go as well together as with something else. but the sandwich looks absolutely delicious!

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  5. Katie - Hot soup was definitely the way to go, although we were having a random warm day yesterday (high of almost 70 degrees). Today we're back to 30-something.

    Dani - I would highly recommend this soup, but it's not what I'd call "black bean soup." Sure, there are a ton of beans in it, but when I think of black bean soup I think of black beans as one of the only ingredients. This actually tasted more like a black bean salsa made into soup.

    A word of warning - you guys don't groove on spicy food, right? This was majorly spicy, so if you can't handle the heat make sure to eliminate the hot sauce and maybe even the jalapeno.

    Melissa - I was surprised it didn't work well together. The sandwich really was delicious, though. Definitely two recipes I'd make again.

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  6. I get hungry just looking at the pictures and her directions are straight forward. Thanks for finding that and please share other ones you might find in the future.

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