Mexican Tortilla Soup

This is the second time I've made tortilla soup on this blog.  My previous recipe uses tomatoes, but this one has a clear broth flavoured with chipotle peppers in adobo and cilantro.

It starts with a broth made from whole chicken legs, onions and garlic and adds a few beef bones for extra meaty flavour.

While the broth is simmering, fry two whole tortillas and 4 tortillas cut into strips. 

After simmering for an hour, the chicken is shredded.  Chipotles, cilantro, onion and crumbled fried tortillas are pureed and added to the broth.

The broth takes on a greenish colour with the puree added in.  The shredded chicken goes back into the soup and I added some corn as well. 

Once the soup is warmed through, place the garnishes in the bowl - avocado, chopped cilantro and shredded cheese.

Ladle the hot soup over the garnishes and top with fried tortilla strips. 

This soup is slightly spicy, hearty and warming. It makes a fantastic winter dinner. 

Here's the recipe, adapted slightly from Mark Bittman's Tortilla Soup recipe in the New York Times. 

Ingredients:
4 large chicken legs
2 meaty beef bones (optional)
1 medium onion, skin on, quartered
1 whole head garlic, halved, skin on
1/4 cup vegetable oil
6 corn tortillas
2 chipotles in adobo
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
salt
1 cup frozen corn (optional)
shredded cheese
diced avocado

Directions:

Place chicken legs, beef bones, garlic and 3/4 of onion in a large pot. Cover with water, about 10 cups. 

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.  Cook for about an hour. 

Strain the broth through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter.  Set chicken aside to cool.  At this point you can also chill the broth to let the fat rise to the surface. 

Meanwhile, slice 4 tortillas into strips. Heat oil in a pan and cook 2 whole tortillas until light brown and crisp, about 1 minute per side. Remove tortillas and drain on paper towels.  Add tortilla strips to oil in pan and toss until brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Drain strips on paper towels. 

Add the chipotles, 1/4 cup cilantro, the remaining 1/4 onion and a teaspoon of salt to a blender.  Crumble in the two whole, fried tortillas and add 2 cups of the broth.  Puree until smooth.

Remove the chicken from the bones and shred the meat. 

When ready to serve, skim the fat from the chicken broth and pour into a pot to reheat.  Add the chipotle mixture and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Add the corn and chicken and bring back to a simmer to warm through.  Season with salt to taste. 

Add avocado, cheese and cilantro to serving bowls and pour soup over top.  Sprinkle fried tortilla strips over the top and add more cheese if desired.  

Enjoy! 

Tacos de Carnitas

It's clear if you've read my blog that we love tacos. We eat them every chance we get when we're out and about whether in Mexico, California, North Carolina, Toronto, Niagara or here at home in London, Ontario.  And I love to make them at home too.

Tacos de Carnitas are time consuming to make, but not difficult at all. And while you're taking the time to roast pork shoulder in its own fat, it only makes sense to make enough to feed a crowd. 


Even if, like me, you know people who "don't like tacos", these carnitas are so mildly spiced, tender, crispy and delicious, I can't imagine anyone not falling in love at first bite. 

The recipe and technique comes from The Food Lab at Serious Eats. I didn't make their salsa verde, because I have my own, canned last summer. But I followed the rest of the directions pretty much exactly. 

Here's what you need for these amazing tacos.  This amount will feed 8-10 people but you can easily halve or double the recipe.  I froze half of the roasted pork and then thawed and crisped it weeks later.

Cinco de Mayo Mexican Food Roundup

We just got back from our first trip to Mexico! We had a relaxing beach vacation with some fun activities and amazing food and I'll tell you all about it soon. 

I was looking through my archives and I think Mexican food is the kind of food I cook the most. Matt loves it and so do I, so I have a lot of Mexican and Mexican-inspired recipes on this blog, and I thought I'd do a round-up for Cinco de Mayo this week.  

Salsa Verde

First a fantastic salsa verde that's great with chips but even better as a sauce or condiment with grilled or braised meats. We made our own from tomatillos in our garden, which grow amazingly well in our climate, but you can easily buy tomatillos in the summer, or even buy pre-made salsa verde for a tangy change from red salsa. 

Home Made Corn Tortillas

These tortillas are so easy to make, and masa is widely available now. It really makes sense to make your own tortillas if you like them as fresh as possible.

Tomatillo and Chicken Chilaquiles

We finally harvested the last of our miracle tomatillos from our garden.  Peppers do well in our garden in the fall, but these tomatillos have been the most successful thing we've ever grown.  

Chilaquiles (fun to say: chee-lah-KEE-less), like tortilla soup, is another great way to use up stale tortillas.  It's a dish that usually uses corn tortillas, but I used flour tortillas in this. 

Here's what you need:

Tortilla Soup

This recipe was originally intended to use up stale tortillas, but it is so good, I bought fresh corn tortillas just for this soup.  It's rich, spicy and flavourful, and so easy to pull together in just minutes.  

I used store-bought white corn tortillas for this but you can always make your own. 

Here's what you need:

Beef Barbacoa Tacos

One of the best techniques I discovered this year is creating a rich, flavourful sauce from dried chilis.  It works beautifully with pork, chicken, and now here's a beef recipe that tastes incredible.  

The original recipe comes from Serious Eats.  I made a few adjustments based on the chilis and meat I had available.  Here's what you need:

Tostadas

These tostadas are wonderful!  Matt went bananas for them.  Tostadas are fried, flat corn tortillas topped with beans, meat and vegetables.  You can be very creative in your toppings and make things from scratch or use shortcuts.  These have refried beans, shredded chicken in a smoky sauce, avocado, sour cream, lettuce, onions and radish, topped with Mexican queso.  

The tostadas themselves can be made or bought.  I found these at our local Asian grocery store that also has a great Latin food section.  I found four kinds of queso and real Mexican crema as well!  Instead of these you can buy corn tortillas and fry them in oil until crispy.  Or you can make your own corn tortillas and fry them.  The point is a crispy, flat shell to hold the toppings.  This dish was created to use up stale, leftover tortillas.  

Chiles Rellenos

Before I knew Matt, I'd never heard of chiles rellenos, stuffed, fried poblano chiles.  But over the years I've seen him order them any time he sees them on a menu.  It's not easy to find a wide variety of chiles where we live, so when I saw poblano peppers at the grocery store, I snapped them up and decided to surprise Matt with his favourite dish.  

I'm not going to say this was easy.  It's pretty ambitious, but you can prepare it in stages and fry the peppers in the batter at the last minute.  Frying indoors is one of my least favourite ways to cook; it's messy and hot and requires full attention.  But for some things - including this - it's worth it.  

I used this recipe from Chow which calls for an egg batter and claims to be the most authentic method.  Some recipes call for breadcrumbs in the coating.  This was an unusual batter but it tasted great.  

San Diego - Taco Wonderland

I'm not going to say tacos are the reason we went to San Diego, but they're definitely one of the main reasons we'll return.  Taco shops in San Diego are as ubiquitous as Tim Hortons in Canada.  

On our first night we lucked out with taco happy hour right beside our hotel, but the next day we went in search of authentic San Diego fish tacos and ended up in the Gaslamp Quarter downtown.  

Carne Adovada (Pork with Red Chilies)

This recipe comes from The Food Lab on Serious Eats.  I love this column; it has illuminated so many cooking techniques for me. The author tries many different methods until he gets the perfect result.  This might not be a 100% authentic dish, but it is 100% delicious.  

Carne Adovada is a dish from New Mexico.  It's pork stewed in a sauce made from dried chilies.  It's not terribly spicy but you get such a rich, warm heat from the chilies and spices.  The combination of chilies actually makes it taste a little chocolatey.  

Home Made Corn Tortillas

This adventure came about completely by accident.  I had a meal planned that called for corn tortillas and I was planning to pick them up at the grocery store, but after trying two different stores, corn tortillas were nowhere to be found.  I did find instant masa though, and figured I could make my own tortillas.  

I ordered a tortilla press online and got to work!

Detour - Chicago Part 1

Over the holidays we took a trip to Chicago for Matt's birthday.  It was our 3rd time visiting.  It's just a 6 hour drive from home and we love the city!  Shopping is fantastic.  There's so much to see and do.  And the food!  The food is incredible!

Day One:

Our first stop is always on the road. Kalamazoo is the halfway point between home and Chicago.  Michigan has a wonderful beer scene and Bell's Brewery is one of the best in North America.  They have a great little restaurant called the Eccentric Cafe where you can get a terrific lunch and some tasty beer.  They also have a General Store to purchase their beer, along with brewing ingredients and equipment and swag.  We grabbed some fancy beer and headed back on the road.

Once in Chicago we made one more stop at Binny's Beverage Depot.  We usually go to the downtown location but this time we went to Lincoln Park and it was tremendous!  Huge selection of beer, liquor and wine.  Matt bought dozens of interesting beers and I got some Champagne and French sparkling wine for a ridiculous price (they had samples in every aisle!).  I also bought a bottle of interesting tequila and some delicious margarita mix.  Most of this was to bring home but we did consume some in the hotel room as well.  

Next we checked into our hotel, the Amalfi Hotel Chicago.  This was our first time staying here but the whole trip was planned around a great deal we found.  Chicago hotels are often deeply discounted on weekends and this was no exception.  The Amalfi is in a fantastic location on Kinzie Street, just a block from the river and two blocks from the Magnificent Mile.  It was easy to walk to restaurants, shopping and sights.  It also had a wonderful reception each evening with free (!) cocktails and snacks, plus a free continental breakfast each morning.  It was a great place to stay.  

Our first evening we hadn't planned dinner but we knew the Slurping Turtle was close by and wanted to check it out.  Chef Takashi was one of our favourite contestants on Top Chef Masters and we lucked out that he actually popped in to his little soup restaurant while we were there!    

We were seated at a communal table and had a great server who explained the menu.  I'd planned to get ramen but my top choice, Tan Tan Men, turned out to be quite spicy so Matt ordered it instead and I ordered an amazing lobster and crab maki roll and shared a bit of the soup.  Our friends ordered another ramen, Tonkotsu, a traditional pork noodle soup, as well as some sashimi and it was incredible too.  We also had bacon-wrapped asparagus and the most delicious Brussels sprouts in history.  This place is amazing.  I'd love to return for lunch where they have a great looking bento box special.

Day Two:  

Today walked to Millennium Park where we visited the Art Institute of Chicago.  

The collection is pretty amazing and we spent several hours there before heading to Macy's on State Street for shopping.  This Macy's is 7 floors in a beautiful, old building. We had a quick lunch (beer & nachos) at the sports bar at Macy's, then shopped all afternoon.

One of the things we love in Chicago is the amazing Mexican food.  It always astounds me that there's such a huge Mexican population so close to where we live but we can barely get decent Mexican food in our area.

Tonight, dinner at Frontera Grill.  We'd eaten here once before and loved it.  Chef Rick Bayless makes amazing Mexican food at his Chicago restaurants.  They have a limited number of reservations available for Frontera Grill (Toplobampo, the more upscale sister restaurant next door does take reservations).  We managed to secure a reservation months in advance to celebrate the night before Matt's birthday at his favourite restaurant.  

We were seated right away and ordered cocktails.  I had JJ's Elixir: Fig-infused Riverboat rye whiskey, cinnamon agave, fresh lime, Scrump's hard cider. Matt ordered a Fernet-Pear Mojito: D'Aristi rum, Fernet Branca, pear, fresh mint, lime, cane syrup.  We also tried the Oaxacan Gold: Wahaka Joven Espadin mezcal, wood-grilled pineapple, Mexican vanilla, fresh lime.  

For appetizers we all wanted some ceviche. We'd tried it before at Frontera and loved it. We ordered Yucatecan Ceviche: Steamed Mexican blue shrimp & calamari, lime, orange, habanero, avocado, jicama, cucumber & cilantro with tortilla chips, plus Jícama Street Snack: Jicama, cucumber, pineapple, fresh lime and crushed guajillo chile, plus Stuffed Jalapeños: Sweet-sour jalapeños stuffed with Veracruz-style chicken picadillo (tomatoes, capers, olives, herbs), cilantro crema, peashoots and añejo cheese.

All of this should have been enough but then we had a little mix up.  We ordered a half-sized oyster and ceviche platter but were served the full version.  We ate it anyway and the oysters were incredible, but it was way too much food for four people.  And we hadn't even had entrées yet! This is a dozen oysters plus two large tuna ceviche.  

I don't know if I've ever ordered oysters before but now it's all I want all the time.  They were so delicious.  

For our mains, the birthday boy had Duck in Pasilla-Huitlacoche Sauce: Red chile-rubbed Gunthorp duck breast, dark sauce of pasilla & local huitlacoche. Corn husk-steamed tamales studded with sweet corn, smoky green beans, cheese chicharron.

He loves duck and loved this.  A beautiful, complex sauce. 

We've been impressed both times we visited this restaurant at how helpful and professional they are about nut allergies. I was thrilled to hear they had two nut-free moles on the menu.  I wanted to order something Matt could try too. I asked for a recommendation and ordered Chicken in Mole de Calabaza: Garlic-marinated chicken breast, red kuri squash mole, roasted local sweet potatoes & beets, watercress salad.  The chicken was beautifully tender and the sauce was delicious.  Tortillas were served alongside which I shared with Matt for his duck.  

One of our friends ordered Red Chile Meatball Tacos: Classic little Mexican pork meatballs, guajillo chile sauce, braised kale, crispy onions, queso de cincho.

Our other friend ordered the daily special of Chipotle-glazed Gunthorp Farm pork back ribs. Tangy cabbage & black beans. We had a taste of the ribs and they were spicy and delicious.

We don't commonly order dessert when we eat out but they brought Matt a nice little sorbet.  We also ordered boozy coffees and got some lovely tequila complements of the house. 

It was a great way to spend a special day and it's not even Matt's actual birthday yet!  Tune in next time for our last day in Chicago.  

Pork "Mole" Tacos

This is a completely inauthentic dish but it tastes delicious and is pretty healthy.  Mole pablano is a complex Mexican sauce generally made with chilis and spices and often chocolate and nuts.  A true mole has dozens of ingredients and takes a long time to make. This recipe takes the basic flavours and simplifies them into a rich, flavourful sauce.

Here's what you need:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1-2 chipotle chilis in adobo
• 1 fresh chili (optional)
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter (or canned pumpkin)
• corn tortillas
• sour cream 
• 1 head napa cabbage
• 1 lime

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan and add the ground pork.

Break it up and cook over high heat for about 3 minutes...

...until browned.

Meanwhile, peel and dice the sweet potato into small chunks and dice the onion. Mince the chili and garlic.

Add to the pork.

And cook, stirring for about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle in the cumin and cinnamon along with some salt and pepper.

Add in the cocoa powder and chopped chipotle peppers.

Stir and cook for 2 minutes, then add the tomatoes and juice and the peanut butter.  We can't have peanut butter at my house so I substituted canned pumpkin and it seemed to work pretty well.   Cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile make your slaw.  This is napa cabbage which is mild and less tough than traditional cabbage.  

Thinly slice the cabbage.

Zest the lime and add the zest and juice to the cabbage and toss to coat.

Warm your corn tortillas.  You can do this by heating them in a pan one at a time or wrapping them in foil and putting them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. 

By now the pork mixture should be thickened.

To assemble the tacos, place the corn tortillas on a plate.

Add the pork mixture to each tortilla.

Top with sour cream.

And then add the cabbage-lime slaw.  This was a nice, flavourful, healthy dinner.