Tortilla Soup Quest roundup #3 (&Tortilla Soup #8 from ATK)

Thanks so much to everybody who joined in on my quest to find the ULTIMATE Tortilla Soup since I started this challenge...I have found so many amazing and varied versions!  Each one has made my mouth water, in turn...and there's still half a year to go.  This is the third roundup in the series...check out these delicious versions from the past couple months of the quest!  Simply click on title of soup in photo caption to go directly to each Tortilla Soup post and recipe!

Wendy from Around My Family Table warmed up from some crazy storms with her Chicken Tortilla Soup.  She says... "We love this soup. It is so quick and easy to put together, even at the last minute because I usually have everything on hand. I love those type of dishes, don't you?" Why yes, yes, I do.

Chicken Tortilla Soup from Around My Family Table

I'm not sure why I'd never thought to make a Tortilla Soup in my slow cooker, but once I saw that Kim from The Ungourmet post her slow cooker version, I knew it was in my future! This was her "first attempt at tortilla soup and I have to say, it was pretty darn good." Indeed.

Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup from The Ungourmet

The Soup queen herself, Deb from Kahakai Kitchen included her quick & easy blender version of Tortilla Soup in her Souper Sundays: Year in Soup post using her VitaMix.  Of this version...and she's tried others...she says, "Simple, fast and full of great flavor.  It is amazing how quickly the blender makes a satisfying, tasty soup."  I want a VitaMix---and this soup!

Quick & Easy Blender Tortilla Soup from Kahakai Kitchen

Christy from Fudge Ripple tried her first Tortilla Soup at a Mexican tourist trap once upon a time, and since she "can't just hop a plane to Mexico when a craving hits..."  she makes her own version "which closely resembles my memory of the perfect tortilla soup.  Now if I could just conjure up a spell that could mimic the fresh sea breeze....life would be perfect."  Ah yeah, yours and mine both, my friend ;-)...because I'd totally make you share that spell with me!

Fudge Ripple's Favorite Tortilla Soup

When Alex from A Moderate Life conjures up memories of Tortilla Soup from her favorite Mexican restaurant and heads into the kitchen, results are fabulous with her creamy version of this classic...she says "The soup is a cream based bisque with a few shreds of tortilla sprinkled across the top. It is simply amazing and defies description. All I know is when I taste it, and by the way, they gave us a free taste the first time we came in for dinner, as they obviously know it will sell itself 10 times over, but I digress, when I taste it, my heart opens up and my soul says “Ya baby!”." I concur.

A Moderate Life's Creamy Tortilla Soup

Although she gives her daughter credit for this recipe, it was Brenda's big bowl of tortilla soup with chicken over at Sense of Home that had my mouth watering!  She says..."This soup is so amazingly fresh and tasty, it wakes up your taste buds.  What is really great is this takes so little time to make you can easily make this after work.  The key is to plan ahead so you have the fresh ingredients on hand."  I'm pretty sure I could eat this version any meal---any day!  I'm all about planning ahead.  Sometimes.

Chicken Tortilla Soup from Sense of Home

Debbie from The Friday Friends brings her second submission to my challenge with this delicious Black Bean Tortilla Soup...and it was a bit "healthified" compared to her previous attempt. She says, "I was prepared not to like it.  Not to like it at all...until, the Handyman said, "this is really good", So I tasted it and guess what?  I liked it too!  It had a great taste.  A great broth and some fresh chilies and lime.  We both had seconds."  Sheesh, after that, I just wish I had firsts!

Black Bean Tortilla Soup from The Friday Friends

Of her super simple Tortilla Soup, Audrey from Homemaking On A Whim says "I love this recipe. Seriously, it's just about my favorite recipe ever. It's delicious, and better yet, EASY. I always have the stuff to make it on hand, and I usually have at least a couple of the toppings on hand as well. " Personally, I was intrigued by the use of Italian Dressing and Tomato Sauce in her version...go check it out!

A super simple Tortilla Soup from Homemaking On A Whim

Although she didn't include a picture in this post, Katie from Mexican Wildflower totally had my mouth watering with her delicious Sopa de Tortilla Verde...a green version...sure to become a fast favorite!

Using some Pace Picante Sauce that I (Heather from girlichef) received as a product to try and review, I made a Spicy Southwest Tortilla Soup that was simple, tasty, and definitely worth making again.

Spicy Southwest Tortilla Soup from right here at girlichef

I am convinced that the Madison House Chef is on the same wavelength as me, because using leftover turkey and turkey stock from Thanksgiving was totally swimming around in my mind when I opened up her post in which she used both in her version of Tortilla Soup...yum!

The Madison House Chef brings us a Tortilla Soup w/ turkey

Thanks so much for joining me everybody!  Don't forget, the quest continues for another six months, so keep 'em coming!!
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Here's the latest version I tried...good...but not the best...

Tortilla Soup

from Cooking at Home with America's Test Kitchen

makes ~9 c.

tortilla strips

8 (6") corn tortillas, cut into ½" wide strips

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

salt

soup

4 bone-in, skin on chicken thighs (~1¼ lbs.), skin removed and well trimmed of excess fat

8 c. low-sodium chicken broth

1 very large white onion (~1 lb.), trim, peel & quarter

4 medium garlic cloves, peeled

2 sprigs fresh epazote

salt

2 medium tomatoes, cored & quartered

½ medium jalapeño

1 chipotle chile in adobo, plus up to 1 Tbs. adobo sauce

1 Tbs. vegetable oil

garnishes

lime wedges

avocado, peel, pit & dice

monterey jack, diced

fresh cilantro leaves

jalapeño chile, minced

For tortilla strips:  Adjust an oven rack to middle position; heat to 425°F.  Spread tortilla strips on a rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with oil and toss until evenly coated. Bake until strips are deep golden brown and crisped, ~14 mins, rotating and shaking pan halfway through.  Sprinkle lightly with salt and transfer to paper towel lined plate.

For the soup:  While the tortilla strips bake, bring the chicken, broth 2 onion quarters, 2 garlic cloves, the epazote, and ½ tsp. salt to a boil over med-high heat in a large saucepan; reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 20 mins.  Transfer chicken to a large plate.  Pour broth through a fine-mesh strainer; discard the solids in the strainer.  When cool enough to handle, shred chicken into bite-size pieces; discard the bones.

Purée tomatoes, remaining onion and garlic, jalapeño, chipotle chile, and 1 tsp. of adobo sauce in food processor until smooth.  Heat oil in Dutch oven over high heat until oil shimmers.  Add purée & 1/8 tsp. of salt, and cook, stirring frequently until mixture has darkened, ~10 mins.  Stir in strained broth and bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer to blend flavors, ~15 mins.  Taste and add more adobo sauce if desired.  Add shredded chicken and simmer until heated through, ~5 mins.

To serve, place tortilla strips in bottom of bowl, ladle in hot soup, and pass garnishes.

*(speaking of the soup queen...) I'm sending this soup over to my friend, Deb at Kahakai Kitchen for Souper Sundays this week!

*Be sure to enter my Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook & Cookie Gift Pack Giveaway by Sunday Dec. 12...it's good stuff...keep it or check someone off your holiday shopping list!*

"German" Chocolate Cake (what's in a name?)

Did you know that German Chocolate Cake did not originate in Germany? It's kinda like Swiss Steak. Some people know the origin, other people wonder about it...and others just shrug their shoulders. Well, inquisitive mind that I am...I needed to find out. The German in the name makes sense once you know why it is actually there, though. I'm sure everybody is familiar with Baker's Sweet German Chocolate. Right? Well, it was developed by a man by the name of Sam German in 1852. It was originally called Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate...eventually the 's' at the end of German was dropped (in the name of the cake, not the name of the Baker's brand chocolate). It is rumored that the first recipe for German's Chocolate Cake was published in a Dallas newspaper in 1957...sent in by a Texas homemaker. The (then) owners of Baker's Chocolate, General Foods saw it and immediately sent copies of the recipe and accompanying photographs to newspapers across the whole great U.S. of A! Smart move on their part because sales for Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate jumped 73% in the year that followed the mass publication.* The recipe was often requested for reprint by readers who missed it the first time around. And today, more than 50 years later, it is still a much requested and made cake here in the U.S....is it popular other places as well? Needless to say, with time things get forgotten and stories get changed, so most people do not remember that little letter that was originally at the end of the word that today seems so misleading. Silly little 's'. And after all this history, I'm not even going to use Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate in my cake; just thought maybe you'd be interested. But guess what...it's still called German Chocolate Cake! Ah, history... love it. The German Chocolate cake that I recently made is actually the best one I have ever tasted. If I've told ya once, I've told ya once a million times...I'm not really much of a cake person. Although I constantly, but unintentionally, try to disprove that statement. I can usually have one piece of a whole cake and be satisfied until the next time a cake eatin' ceremony rolls around...but I could have eaten this whole cake by itself if I hadn't had 4 other sets of hands reaching for it, too! If only I had known. This is another test recipe for Cook's Country...I wonder how many times they test it in their kitchens before they send it out to their "outside" testers (like moi)? Because this recipe was flawless. Yes, I know everybody has different tastes, but this was made for me! And the best thing of all is that it is actually a "lightened-up" version. German Chocolate Cake A Cook's Country test recipe...tested and approved...big time! Cake 3 oz. milk chocolate, chopped 3 Tbs. Dutch-processed cocoa powder 1/3 c. boiling water 1 1/3 c. AP flour 1/2 tsp. baking soda 3 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened 1/2 c. packed brown sugar 1/3 c. granulated sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 3 lg. eggs, room temp. 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 c. low-fat sour cream, room temp. (do NOT use fat-free...it'll make it gummy) Frosting 1 c. fat-free evaporated milk 3 Tbs. cornstarch 2 Tbs. unsalted butter 2/3 c. packed brown sugar 1/4 tsp. salt 1 Tbs. vanilla extract 1/3 c. pecans, chopped 1/2 c. sweetened, shredded coconut Make batter: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat to 350 degrees F. Whisk chocolate, cocoa and boiling water in bowl until smooth; let cool. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat butter, sugars & salt until combines.Increase speed to medium and beat until mixture lightens in color and sticks to sides of bowl. Then add eggs, one at a time, and mix until thickened and well combined, about 45 seconds. Reduce speed to low and add chocolate mixture and vanilla until incorporated. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of sour cream and mix until just combined. Bake cake: Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. Scrape equal amounts of batter into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 10-15 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack. Cool cakes completely, at least 1 hour. (Cooled cakes can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temp. for 2 days.) I'd say go ahead and add parchment rounds to the bottom of your pan too, so this doesn't happen to you. But no matter...just stay tuned.

Toasting: After you remove your cake pans from the oven...take your pecans and coconut and spread them out onto a baking sheet and toast them in a 325 degree F. oven until toasty and golden...shake 'em occasionally. Set aside. Make Frosting: Whisk evaporated milk, cornstarch, butter, brown sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-high heat until bubbling, about 3 minutes. Continue to cook until mixture is thickened, about 1 minute. Off heat, stir in vanilla and all but 1 Tbs. each of pecans and coconut. Cool to room temperature. Assemble cake: Place one cake round on serving platter. Spread half of the frosting over the cake (see...covered that pesky crack right up and nobody was the wiser), then top with second cake round. Spread remaining frosting over top of cake. Sprinkle cake with remaining pecans and coconut. Serve. I heart you German Chocolate Cake. I heart you big time.

The Nutritional info for this lightened-up version (by the slice) is:

Full Fat German Chocolate Cake Calories 740 Total Fat 45 g Saturated Fat 23 g Reduced Fat German Chocolate Cake Calories 340 Total fat 13 g Saturated Fat 7 g

(p.s.- I do not heart you dirty dishes.)

*Sources: Snopes.com & Wikipedia

Sweet Potato Biscuits

I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing...warm sweet potato biscuits!!

Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations is having an online picnic; "guests" bring pick dishes to bring by the letters of the alphabet...and I got 'W'.

I was prepared to show you some delicious sweet potato biscuits...and since they are even better warm...I turned them into a 'W'! This is another test recipe I received through Cook's Country and another winner. I've often said that the smell of baking bread is one of my favorites...and I love to eat fresh baked breads and pastries and pies. The thing is, I'm not the greatest baker in the world. It's true, I'm a cook not a baker...but I do the best I can. I do fear yeast breads, which makes me sad because I adore them...but luckily there is no yeast in site in these little beauties!

(WARM) Sweet Potato Biscuits 
adapted slightly from Cook's Country
yield: 12-17 biscuits

2 1/2 lb. sweet potatoes
2 Tbs. cider vinegar
3 1/4 c. cake flour
1/3 c. packed dark brown sugar
5 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. allspice
8 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pcs.- chilled
4 Tbs. shortening, cut into 1/2" pcs.
2 Tbs. butter, melted

Prick the sweet potatoes and put into microwave until very soft, 15-20 minutes. Immediately slice in half. When cook, scoop flesh into bowl and mash until smooth...you'll need 2 c. of mashed flesh (if you have extra...eat it!). Stir in vinegar and refrigerate until cool.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line baking sheet w/ parchment paper. Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder & baking soda, salt, chilled butter and shortening in food processor to form coarse crumbs. Add to cooled potatoes and fold in.
Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth, 8-10 times. Pat into a 9" circle, ~1" thick. Using a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter (I accidentally used a 2" and thought it was perfect) dipped in flour, cut into circles and place on prepared sheet pan.
Brush tops with melted butter and bake until golden, ~18-22 minutes (17-18 was perfect in my oven).
Let cool 15 minutes and serve. But remember...we're serving these WARM...which are awesome slathered with butter and drizzled with honey!!

Swiss Steak

It seems like it has been a while since I received a recipe from Cook's Country to test, but I finally opened up my inbox to find one waiting for me. This always gets my motor going because (as I've mentioned before) I've worked in a test kitchen in the past and wouldn't mind working in one again. It's always satisfying to work with a set of ingredients to find just the right amounts and combinations of each component to make that "perfect" recipe. This time the test recipe was Swiss Steak.

 I'm not really that familiar with Swiss Steak, to tell you the truth. Yes, I've heard of it...I've probably even eaten some at one point in my life, but it must not have been that memorable (because I don't remember it). I always picture cube steak mmmm...which always leads to thoughts of chicken fried steak...but, I don't know much beyond that. Make some sort of pan gravy from the drippings...but what goes into it? What is the flavor profile?

 The "swiss" in Swiss Steak refers not to the country of Switzerland, but instead to the process of swissing. Swissing involves taking a rather tough cut of meat (usually the round in this case) and tenderizing it. This is done by either pounding it thin or running it through a meat-tenderizing machine (like a Jaccarder)...that consists of a bunch of tiny razor-sharp blades...that punches holes through the meat, breaking down all of those tough connective tissues. I mean, look at where the round is located...

Meat Cuts diagram found on Wikipedia

...the hip is probably one of the most exercised parts of the cow...all that pasture walking (think muscle build-up)...it's not nice and un-used and cradled in a protective layer like the tenderloin is. The process then looks to braising this tenderized meat as a way of further breaking down the connective tissues. It takes a little work and some cooking time to make this cut fall apart. But once you've taken that time, man is it worth it!

This is the goal set forth in the testing of this method of making Swiss Steak (by the Cook's Country test kitchen): Most Swiss Steak recipes start by pounding tough (and in our opinion) flavorless round steak before flouring, browning, and braising the meat until tender. But all this work is hardly worthy the mediocre results. Instead, we cut our own steaks from a top blade roast, an inexpensive and flavorful cut from the shoulder of the steer. Though a bit of basic butchery is required for this roast, there is no pounding or flouring necessary. For the sauce, we wanted our steaks smothered in a tasty, satiny, just-thick-enough sauce chock full of onions and tomatoes. 

SWISS STEAK 
If you cannot find a whole top blade roast, substitute eight 1-inch thick blade steaks. Blade steaks are cut from the top blade roast. Though they contain an unsightly line of gristle that runs through their center, it is not unpleasant to eat.
adapted from Cook's Country 
Serves 6

1 (3½- to 4-pound) boneless top blade roast 
Salt and pepper 
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
1 onion, sliced 
3 garlic cloves, minced 
½ teaspoon dried thyme 
2 tablespoons tomato paste 
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes 
1½ cups low-sodium chicken broth 
1 tablespoon sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, patted dry and minced I used dry packed-no oil 
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley 

Okay, I'm going to begin by showing you the method used to butcher the blade roast...(don't be alarmed by the home-butchery, it's really quite simple!!). Arrange roast on cutting board and cut crosswise into half. Cut each half in half to yield 4 equal pieces. Turn each piece on its side to expose the line of gristle that runs through the center of the roast. Slice through meat on either side of gristle to yield two “steaks.” Repeat with remaining 3 pieces of blade roast to yield 8 total steaks. Okay, that was the hard part...on to the easy stuff... Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.

Pat steaks dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium-high heat just until smoking. Brown 4 steaks, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to plate and repeat with remaining oil and steaks. Add onion and cook over medium heat until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, thyme, tomato paste, and flour and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in diced tomatoes and broth and bring to boil. Return steaks and any accumulated juices to pan. Roast, covered, until steaks are fork-tender, 2 to 2½ hours. Let rest 5 minutes, then skim any fat from surface I actually didn't skim any fat...didn't really see the need as there wasn't much visible. Stir in parsley and sun-dried tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve. All I can tell you is Oh My Goodness Gracious...this is tender and full of flavor and just plain AMAZING!!! My household is going to go from one that was basically neutral on the whole concept of Swiss Steak (wink wink)...to one that fully supports it! Look at it!! It is fork tender...pair it with a baked potato and that is one satisfying meal. Another winner from Cook's Country.