"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." - James Beard
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!
This is a nice and easy dinner that tastes great. You can make it super spicy or nice and mild, whatever your preference.
First you'll need to sprinkle some diced, boneless chicken thighs with chili powder, salt and pepper and some cayenne if you want it extra spicy.
Sauté the chicken until browned. It doesn't need to be cooked through all the way because it'll finish cooking with the rice later. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
For the rest of the ingredients you'll need rice, black beans, chicken broth, chipotle, white onions, green onions, garlic, chili powder and cumin. Also, corn (not pictured).
In a little oil, sauté the onions and garlic with some chili powder and cumin until just translucent, not brown. Then add 1 diced chipotle in adobo sauce (smoked red jalapeño peppers in tomato sauce - available canned in most grocery stores), 1 cup rice and 1 3/4 cups chicken broth (or water or a mixture of both).
Cover the pan and simmer the rice for 10 minutes, then add the diced chicken, rinsed black beans and some frozen corn.
Cook covered for 10 minutes until chicken is cooked through, rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Add in chopped green onions and some chopped parsley or cilantro.
This is a great one-dish dinner and also makes tasty leftovers for lunch.
I try not to cook with cheese too often because it can be so bad for you, but it is SO delicious. This is based on a recipe from Cooking Light magazine and doesn't use too much cheese but gets a creamy texture from a surprising ingredient - sweet potatoes.
First, roast two large sweet potatoes until soft, about an hour.
Scrape the flesh of the sweet potatoes into a bowl and mash.
Take a few chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. I used one too many for my tastes - this was super spicy - but it was perfect for my spice-loving husband.
These can be kind of a mess to chop, they tend to stain the board, so I put them in a measuring cup with the milk for the sweet potato mash and used an immersion blender to chop them. It worked perfectly!
I poured the milk and chipotles into the mashed sweet potatoes and mashed it all together until mostly smooth.
Then add a few ounces of shredded monterey jack cheese. Not too much at all.
Next, add the cooked (whole wheat) macaroni and mix together.
And spread it in a 9 by 13 casserole dish. You can go ahead and serve this as a vegetarian entree, or...
... cook up some spicy sausage to top the macaroni. You can use Mexican chorizo, or use spicy Italian sausage.
Crumble and brown the sausage in a pan and then spread it over the top of the macaroni casserole.
Now broil it in the oven until the sausage is sizzling.
Top with sliced scallions before serving.
The sweet potatoes make it so creamy and the chipotles really pack a punch. Next time I'd add less spice and probably skip the sausage for a lighter, milder meal. But this was a big hit with the spice and meat loving contingent!
