Recipe: Black Bean Soup

Black beans, also known as "turtle beans", are an especially tasty variety of beans, and make a lovely soup. Do not salt dried beans until the are cooked. On another note, so-called "cooking" wines or sherries contain lots of salt. Do your palate and your body a favor and use a good quality and drinkable pleasant dry sherry in this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound of black beans
1/3 bay leaf
1 large onion, sliced
salt to taste
A few cloves of chopped garlic
1 tsp dry mustard powder
1 cup dry sherry (e.g. La Ina)

Pick over beans to remove any dirt, stones or foreign objects. Wash well, then soak for 8 hours in ample cold water. In a skillet mix beans covered with water. Add ingredients and simmer for 3-4 hours or longer.