Pinto Bean Soup with Roasted Tomatoes
Every so often I find a recipe in culinary trade magazines that's made for camping. Of the dozen professional trade journals that I read each month, Food Management, a magazine published by Penton Media, Inc., is among the best. Its recipes are designed for non-commercial feeding operations that want to impart a touch of elegance.
Pinto bean soup with roasted tomatoes is one of those recipes. Adapted from a recipe by the Idaho Bean Commission, it can be made with dry or canned pinto beans. The soup makes the perfect first-night dish for a famished crew of campers when prepared with canned beans.
Roasting tomatoes and onions in camp
Roasting vegetables is one of those culinary techniques that'll leave your camp mates clamoring for more. Each time you lift the lid off the Dutch oven, campers will come running back to camp as the rich aroma of caramelized tomatoes and onions wafts through the forest.
The flavor of roasted tomatoes is deeper and more intense than fresh or canned tomatoes. Onions and garlic become rich, sweet and slightly smoky when roasted apart from tomatoes. When roasted together in a Dutch oven, the resulting flavor is wonderful.
To roast tomatoes, onions and garlic for the soup first prepare the vegetables. I like to seed tomatoes before I use them in many dishes. To seed, cut the tomato in half from pole to pole. Then, working over a bowl to catch the juices, scoop out the seed and inner pulp with a spoon. Slice each tomato half into quarters. Peel and cut the onions into eighths. Peel the garlic and use whole.
You'll need a very hot Dutch oven to successfully roast the vegetables, about 450 to 475 degrees. Pre-heat the oven by placing 8 to 10 charcoal briquettes underneath and 26 to 28 briquettes on the lid. When hot, drizzle about one-tablespoon of olive oil into the oven. Pour the tomatoes, onions and garlic into the oven and stir. Drizzle a second tablespoon of oil over vegetables and replace the lid.
Now comes the best part. Leave the vegetables alone for 15 to 20 minutes. This'll give you time to finish meal preparation. As the vegetables roast, they'll sweat. The first time that you remove the lid to stir, you'll see juices dancing about the bottom of the oven. As roasting continues, moisture evaporates and the natural sugars start to caramelize and flavors intensify. After 30 to 45 minutes, the roasted tomatoes will be ready for the soup.
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