The first time I made this recipe from The Smitten Kitchen, it was an instant hit with my family. Although I don’t have a slow cooker (I make it on the stove top), this black bean ragout is the perfect slow cooker recipe. Loaded with protein, fiber and great taste, you can’t go wrong with this dish. Serve it over brown rice and garlic toasts (see recipe below) or use it as a filling for tacos or quesadillas. It makes for great leftovers.

I know that the recipe looks long and involved, but this ragout is really a snap to make. It’s important that you soak your beans first. I don’t recommend using canned beans for this recipe. They will turn out very mushy. See below for instructions on soaking beans.

Prep Time: 20 – 25 minutes (not including soaking beans or making garlic toasts)
Cooking Time: 3 – 6 hours
Yield: about 6 cups ragout

Ingredients:

Bean ragout

• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 pound dried black beans, soaked*
• 1 dried chile (optional)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 9-10 cups water or low sodium vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon lime juice or sherry vinegar

Garlic toasts

• 1-inch thick slices of rustic or sourdough bread
• olive oil
• sea salt
• 1 garlic clove, halved

Cumin crema

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup sour cream or creme fraiche

Directions:

Slow-Cooker

1. Put all the bean ragout ingredients except lime juice or vinegar in a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook at high setting until beans are very tender, about 3 – 6 hours, depending on your slow cooker.

Stove top

1. Put all the bean ragout ingredients except lime juice or vinegar in a large pot (I use my 6 qt dutch oven).
2. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook for approximately 3 – 3 1/2 hours, until the beans are tender.

To make garlic toasts

1. Brush bread slices with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.
2. Toast bread under the broiler (watch closely to make sure you don’t burn them).
3. As soon as you take them out of the oven, rub the toasts with the raw garlic clove.

To make cumin crema

1. Stir together cumin and sour cream and set aside.

Once the beans are cooked, stir in the lime juice or vinegar. Adjust seasonings to taste. For a complete meal, ladle over brown rice and garlic toasts, sprinkle with cumin crema and chopped cilantro (if desired). Serve with avocado wedges.

* To soak black beans: First, rinse the beans thoroughly. Then, put the beans in a large bowl and add enough water to cover the beans by a few inches. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight, or for at least 4 hours (if you don’t get a chance to soak overnight). After soaking, drain the beans.

Note: I add a thumb size piece of kombu seaweed to the ragout while cooking. Kombu mitigates some of the gassy effects of the beans. Remove the kombu before serving.

Adapted from Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen.