Inspired by Empellon Taqueria, an excellent Mexican restaurant we went to on a freezing cold night in New York in February of 2017, these are a delicious, and rather impressive starter. The rich, sophisticated soup, both beany and chocolatey, goes wonderfully well with the warm, creamy sopas (little baked corn pastry cups). Place a teaspoon by each plate, though some more adventurous diners may like to pick them up and bite into them. The Roast Vegetable Stock that is used as the basis of the soup, is excellent, and can be used in all sorts of soup situations, especially with robust flavoured veggies. You’ll need 2 muffin trays with 12 (6cm x 2.5 cm) holes

For the sopas (makes more than you’ll need) :-

245g masa harina

35g plain flour

1 tspn salt

30mls groundnut oil

280mls warm water

Roast vegetable stock:- (makes 1.5 litres)

6 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley

6 sprigs fresh thyme

6 medium carrots, peeled cut into 2.5cm pieces

4 medium celery sticks, cut into 2.5 cm pieces

1 large onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges

½ head of garlic (optional), peeled and lightly bashed

1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into 8 wedges

2 tbspns groundnut oil

2 large bay leaves

225 ml dry white wine

The soup:-

2 tbspns olive oil

2 red onions, finely chopped

3 tablespoon chives, finely chopped

2 fresh hot red chillies, deseeded if you prefer, and finely chopped

1 chipotle chilli, finely chopped (not optional)

1 tspn dried oregano

1 tspn ground coriander

1 tsp ground allspice

2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

½ red pepper deseeded and finely chopped

800g drained tinned black (turtle) beans (4 tins)

1 tbspn tomato purée

1 litre roasted vegetable stock (see above)

30g dark chocolate, finely chopped

To serve:-

Crumbled feta cheese, salad leaves, coriander leaves

To make the veg stock:-

• Heat the oven to 220C

• In a large roasting pan, toss the herb sprigs, carrots, celery and onions with the oil and a few grinds of black pepper. Spread into a snug single layer. Roast, stirring twice, until the vegetables are tender and browned in spots, for about 40 minutes

• Transfer everything to a stock pan or large wok, add 2.8 litres cold water and the bay leaves, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer gently, uncovered, for 30 minutes

• Add the wine and simmer for 20 to 30 until the broth is reduced by about one-third to 1500ml and has a full vegetable flavour. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing gently on the vegetables to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Season well and set aside

To make the soup:-

• Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan, and sauté the onions for eight minutes over a medium heat. Add the chives, chillies, oregano, ground spices, red pepper and celery, and cook for seven to eight minutes more, until the vegetables are soft, but not browning. Add the beans, tomato purée and stock, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 40 minutes

• Use a blender to make a very smooth purée of the soup. Add the chocolate, belnd again and season with salt – it will need quite a bit

Once the soup is on, make the sopas:-

• Mix together all the tortilla ingredients till you have a firm dough with a kind of Plasticeney consistency. Knead for 5 minutes, then cover the bowl with a towel and leave for 15 minutes

• Heat the oven to 200C

• Divide the dough into golf ball size pieces and roll into 10cm discs and then mould into the the muffin tray spaces. They should be level with the top, and and even thickness (about 5mm) without any holes. You will have some dough left over; it freezes well

• Once the oven is up to temperature, bake the sopas for 18-20 minutes. They should be dried out and just beginning to colour. Remove very carefully from the muffin tray and allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.

• When ready to serve, arrange the salad on a plate, with two sopas per plate. Snip 3 coriander leaves into the sopas, and gently pour in the black bean soup until almost full. Sprinkle on the feta cheese and serve immdiately.