This stupidly easy, yet tasty, soup is based on a recipe by Pati Jinich, who has become my new queen of Mexican cooking and should probably be yours as well. Her recipes are, in general, simple and easy yet delicious, and she teaches you Mexican home cooking that's not about tacos and fajitas.

This soup is basically an adobo sauce, into which you mix pureed beans and broth, showing the simple versitality of Mexican cooking as well as their dedication to sauces. I tinkered with the recipe slightly to use mostly canned ingredients. Accompany this with some quesadillas or cornbread and you have a terrific weeknight meal that can be on the table in 40 minutes. And, for quarantine-time, this recipe serves two (double it for a larger family).

If you don't have Mexican crema around, you can substitute regular sour cream or even heavy cream. For a vegan version, swap in coconut cream or vegan sour cream.

Pinto Bean Soup

1 dried ancho chile
1 14oz can diced or whole tomatoes
1 14oz can pinto beans
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 cup water
2 to 2 1/2 cups veggie or chicken stock
Salt
1/2 cup Mexican crema (or substitute)
1/2 avocado
A few fried tortilla strips (optional)

Remove the stem from the dried ancho, split it in half, and remove the seeds. Tear it into a few pieces and set in a small heatproof bowl. Boil 1 cup of water and pour it over the chile, making sure it is completely covered. Let sit for 10 minutes to rehydrate.

Put the chile pieces (reserving their soaking liquid) and the canned tomatoes and their juice into a blender or food processor. Puree.

Heat the oil in a medium soup pot. Pour the tomato/chile mixture into the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring regularly. In 5-6 minutes the mixture should darken somewhat.

While the pot is cooking, drain the beans. Puree them together with 1/4 cup chile soaking liquid and 1/2 cup stock.

Once the tomato/chile sauce is done, pour the bean puree into it. Add 1 1/2 cups stock, and bring to a bare simmer. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes; the soup should thicken slightly.

Taste the soup and see if you need to add salt. Also check the texture; if it's too thick, add the remaining 1/2 cup stock.

Dice the avocado half. Serve the soup in wide bowls, and add a swirl of crema or cream to each. Top with the diced avocado, and the tortilla strips (if using). Serve, with rolls or quesadillas on the side.

Serves two. Can be easily scaled up.

A friend was having a discussion about vegetarian chili on Facebook, and asked for a recipe "with no kale or sweet potatoes". I had to agree; those are two ingredients that never belong in anything called "chili".

Still, as a non-meat-eater, I can't prepare proper San Antonio "chile con carne", since without the carne it's not much of a dish. However, New Mexico chile stews have a more varied set of ingredients, making them more adaptable to vegetarians. And, unlike the Texas version, New Mexico chile stew has beans.

So here's my version of a Santa Fe "bowl of green", without the pork.

crockpot green chile stew

This is for the folks at Tazz's chili cookoff ... and for Frank. A New Mexico "bowl of green" has always appealed to me, except for the pork. This is my vegetarian version, with a holy trinity of Southwestern vegetables, only mildly spicy to appeal to as broad an audience as possible.

2 cups navy beans or black-eyed peas
1 cup dried giant corn (see note)
3 green bell peppers
3 green poblano or pasilla peppers
4 hatch chiles, green anaheim, or banana peppers
2 bunches green onions
3-4 cloves garlic
1 1/2 lbs green squash, pattypan, chayote or zucchini
2 tsp hickory smoke salt
4 tsp dried epazote
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
water, salt, oil
slow cooker, cookie sheet, foil, broiler, large clean paper bag

Toppings:

1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/2 lbs Monterrey Jack cheese, grated
green hot sauce (such as Tabasco jalapeño or El Yucateco)

The night before: soak the beans and corn (together) in at least 7 cups of cold water.

Chop 1/2 of the green onion, white and green parts. Dice small one squash (no more than 1/2 lbs), then seed and dice one bell pepper and one of each of the other peppers. Put these in the slow cooker. Drain the beans and the corn, and add these to the slow cooker. Add 2 tsp of the epazote and the hickory smoke salt.

Add enough warm water to almost, but not quite, cover the vegetables and beans; it should take between 2 1/2 cups and 3 1/2 cups. Stir, then cover the slow cooker and set on High for 5 hours.

Some time while the beans are cooking, heat the broiler and cover the cookie sheet with foil and lightly grease it. Halve each of the remaining peppers and seed them. In batches, place the peppers cut-side-down on the cookie sheet and broil them until their skins turn black. Put the blackened peppers (while still hot) into the paper back and fold the top shut. Leave these to cool.

Slice the squash 3/4" thick, oil it lightly, and broil it until it's charred in spots. Set it aside to cool.

When the peppers and squash are cool (about 1/2 hour) peel the blackened skin off the peppers and discard. Chop the peppers. Dice the broiled squash. Mince the remaining green onions.

After the beans have cooked for 5 hours, add the peppers, squash, onions, cumin, oregano, and the rest of the epazote. Stir together. Cook on High for one more hour.

Turn off. Taste for salt, and add more if necessary. Let sit for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve with the toppings available on the side, as well as a pan of unsweetened cornbread. Serves 4 to 6.

Notes:

Giant corn, the same kind used for Posole, is from Central and South America and is available in many Latin markets. If you can't find it, substitute one can white hominy kernels, drained, and added at the same time as the 2nd batch of peppers.

To kick the heat up a notch, replace all of the milder peppers with hatch chiles, or if you can't find those, add 3 jalapeño and 3 serrano peppers, broiled, skinned and chopped with the others.