Thursday, May 5, 2011

Tortilla Soup, Happy Cinco De Mayo!

This recipe was first posted on Andrea the Kitchen Witch in Feb of 2010. In honor of Cinco De Mayo the Witch has decided to share it with you all again. The Witches' camera is broken right now - no new posts until it gets fixed :( Until then please enjoy this recipe from the archives!

After making mole last week, I had a lot of Mexican style ingredients around the kitchen that needed to get used. Things like corn tortillas and jalapanos. It was lunch time on yet another snowy day here in Colorado Springs, a bit of warming was in order. What warms you inside and outside better than tortilla soup?

I've made tortilla soup many times and it always follows the same basic recipe. And its usually good, not great, but good. This tortilla soup, however, was amazingly good. What a taste sensation! It was the first time that I added lime, something I'll never leave out again. Other than the chicken stock, this soup contains no meat. Between the beans and toppings I guarantee you'll never miss the meat.

I cook corn tortillas into my soup, rather than just garnishing the top with them. After all, this is tortilla soup! It takes about 30 minutes of simmering for the tortillas to break down and incorporate into the soup. Its not a pretty process but the taste is fantastic. When you look at the finished product you'll see how creamy the soup looks, and theres no dairy in it at all. That's the magic of the corn tortilla. Rich chicken stock, creamy black beans, spicy jalapanos, all made rich and creamy by the addition of tortillas. A splash of lime juice makes everything stand up and pay attention.

The best part of tortilla soup is the garnishes - add anything you like. I like the creaminess of avocados, the color and acidity of tomatoes and the cooling action of sour cream and cheese. This is a great dish for the entire family, kids and adults both have fun adding their own toppings, making their own custom bowl of soup.

Tortilla soup
serves 4
4 cups chicken stock
2 fresh jalapanos or fresh chili of your choice OR 1 small can jalapanos or green chilies
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1 t fresh toasted & ground cumin seeds (pre ground is fine if that's what you have)
1 cloves garlic minced
2 T onion fine mince
8 fresh corn tortillas
1/2 lime, fresh or squeeze of lime juice on each bowl of soup
drizzle of oil
S&P
GARNISHES: diced avocado, tomato, green onion, olives, cilantro, sour cream, tortilla strips


Prep all ingredients first. Dice jalapanos, discard veins and seeds if you like a milder soup. Mince onion and garlic. Toast the cumin and grind it.
Kitchen Witch Tip: If you're unsure about the heat level desired from your soup, remove the vein and seeds from your pepper. Dice the pepper and add to the soup. Dice the vein and seeds and reserve, add some if you need more heat. The vast majority of the heat is in the vein and seeds of the pepper. I do this when making spicy dishes that I expect the kids to eat, the base dish is quite mild, the adults can add more spiciness as desired.

Heat a medium sized soup pan over medium high heat. Add a drizzle of oil to the pan and sautee onions for about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, beans, jalapanos, cumin and stock, reduce heat to medium. Taste and season with S&P as needed. Tear 4 corn tortillas into hunks and stir into soup, allow to rapidly simmer for 30 minutes. You need some good simmering action here, the agitation of the bubbling will help break down the tortillas and allow them to dissolve, helping to thicken the soup and add a rich corn flavor. Stir every 5 minutes.



While soup is simmering heat oven to 450*. Brush both sides of corn tortillas with a touch of oil. Slice tortillas into 1/8 inch wide strips. Put tortilla strips on a baking sheet and toss with 1/2 t kosher salt. Bake strips 8 minutes, turn them over and bake about 5 minutes longer, or until strips turn golden and smell like toasted corn.



Ladle soup into bowls topping with tortilla strips and any/all garnishes you like.

Nutrition information provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Nutrition Facts
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving *~*does not include garnishes*~*
Nutrition Facts
Tortilla soup
4 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 195.8
Total Fat 2.3 g
Saturated Fat 0.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.7 g
Cholesterol 6.3 mg
Sodium 1,400.5 mg
Potassium 342.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate 36.5 g
Dietary Fiber 7.4 g
Sugars 1.0 g
Protein 8.5 g

I've entered this soup into a blog challenge for tortilla soup recipes, click HERE to check out all the awesome soups, too!

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh no...I HATE when our electronics break down on us! I for one think posting from the archives is a great idea! I might do it myself today as I don't have much time to do a post! Your soup looks FAB and perfect for the day! Happy Cinco de Mayo my friend@

Yenta Mary said...

Oh, my ... that is gorgeous! What colors! What flavors!!!

Cranberry Morning said...

No kidding, I happen to have every single ingredient for that amazing-looking soup on hand right now! Great idea for dinner tonight. :-)

StephenC said...

Ever wonder why, in Denver, cinco is rarely celebrated on the 5th. It's always a weekend day. Nice soup. If you are ever in Denver, try Los Carboncitos for their sopa Azteca.

Unknown said...

Happy Cinco de Mayo to you too. Unfortunately it's not a big thing here in the UK. The soup looks delish!

Unknown said...

Happy belated Cinco de Mayo!! Love tortilla soup and of course yours looks awesome!!!

Unknown said...

This looks delicious. My die-hard meat lovin hubby wouldn't touch it unless it had meat in it though. I cant wait to try it with a little shredded chicken added.

Unknown said...

looks so divine Andrea... nice work... and yes, I too HATE it when this technology crap goes wrong... arrrgh!

Unknown said...

oh i hate gadgets breakdowns and hope you can fix ur camera soon! very hearty soup!

Bo said...

That sucks about your camera...hurry and get it fixed...tortilla soup is one of my favs!

Spoon and Chopsticks said...

Andrea, your soup is awesome. I'm sure I'm gonna love it.

http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com/

Angie's Recipes said...

Tortilla soup looks so great!

Chaya said...

I bought tortillas, yesterday and now, I know what to do with them. Thanks.

Katie said...

I love tortilla soup! Especially because it's still FREEZING in the midwest! :(

Velva said...

It's always stressful when the foodie camera is broken -Yikes! Hope it is fixed soon.

This tortilla soup was a good idea to re-post. Looks delightful.

Velva

Sook said...

I love tortilla soup! It's kinda gray and gloomy here. This sounds perfect.

Miss Meat and Potatoes said...

I have been craving soups/stews lately and this is calling my name. I love the fact that tortilla soup is like the 'fun' soup - all those textures and flavors... And you're right - the real draw is the additions;) I am bookmarking this one!

Ma What's 4 dinner said...

So weird! My camera is broken too! Sorry you have to deal with that as well but if we get to experience recipes like this awesome soup again I'll take it!

Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma What's For Dinner
www.mawhats4dinner.com

Karen Harris said...

This looks great. I think that tortilla soup is so comforting. It is definitely one of my favorites.

Joy @ Joy Of Desserts said...

Andrea: Thank you for adding that great comment on my blog, and for your own stamp of approval for the Foodie Blogroll.

Related Posts with Thumbnails