Sopa de Lima | #SoupSwapParty

As a self-proclaimed soup addict, I think the concept of Kathy Gunst's new cookbook Soup Swap is pure genius. Since you often wind up with leftovers when you make soup, you can tire of having the same kind of soup day after day, so why not make a party out of it? Gather a group of friends, family, or colleagues and have each person/couple bring a pot of homemade soup. The host will provide a loaf of crusty bread, a side/salad, and a dessert.

At the party, serve up tasting portions of each kind of soup and then everybody goes home with different soups to enjoy for the rest of the week! You could make it a monthly ritual. You could have themes. You could ask everybody to bring a drink that compliments their soup. You could set it up however you want.

Chilied Tortilla Soup w/ Kale

RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! 

{Say it with me now.}

RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! RICK! 

Yes.  It's true.  For the next six months we will be cooking with my guru.  The master.  The genius behind the best (in my opinion) Mexican food in the world.  The genie I learned so many tricks and methods and secrets to the food that I nourish my family with.  I may be a little excited about this fact.  I won't deny it.  I mean, I've been learning from and cooking with Rick for at least 13 years now, but in the hustle-bustle of normal life, I don't always get to cook with him as much as I'd like to.  But now I have an excuse a reason to spend time with him weekly.  And that makes me happy.  And believe me, it makes whole fam dam happy, as well.  We ♥ Rick.  And I ♥ Cooking Clubs. 

So. Where to begin?  DUH!  With Tortilla Soup, of course!  You may remember my quest.  And the fact that my personal favorite Tortilla Soup is adapted from a Rick Bayless recipe.  Maybe you're wondering why I haven't posted any more versions since my "results post"?  It's simple really.  I was busy enjoying the best versions of those I tried over the year.  Okay, mostly just my favorite version.  Because I can't get enough.  But now's the time.  I decided that since I had a beautiful bunch of lacinato kale sitting there looking pretty, I'd make a Tortilla Soup recipe of Rick's that I've been meaning to try.  It actually calls for Swiss Chard, but since I'm a lover of kale, I figured it would substitute well.  And it did.  Very well.  Not your typical Tortilla Soup...and not enough to give me a new favorite...but the earthiness of the kale added an unexpected layer of comfort that I enjoyed.  

Chilied Tortilla Soup w/ Kale

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: simmer soup/stew vegetarian tortillas kale chiles Mexican

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• ~1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• ~1½ oz. pasilla chiles, stemmed & seeded
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 med-large ripe tomato
• 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
• 6 c. chicken stock (or use rich vegetable stock to keep vegetarian)
• salt
• ~4 c. loosely packed lacinato kale "ribbons"

garnish

• fried corn tortilla strips
• lime wedges
• queso fresco, cubed

Instructions

Use kitchen scissor to cut the chiles into ~1" squares. Heat oil over medium-low and fry chile squares very quickly to toast, ~3-4 seconds. Remove and drain on paper towels immediately. Set ⅔ of the chiles aside to use as garnish (they'll be crunchy -- like chile chips!).

Put remaining ⅓ of chiles in small bowl and cover with hot water. Allow to sit and rehydrate for ~30 minutes. Drain.

While chiles are soaking, roast the unpeeled garlic on an ungreased comal or griddle, over medium heat. Turn occasionally, until blackened in spots and soft, ~15 minutes. Cool a bit and slip off the papery skins.

Roast the tomato on a baking sheet under a broiler until blackened and blistered all around. Cool a bit, then peel. Place the peeled tomato and any collected juices in the jar of a blender along with the garlic and rehydrated chiles. Add 1 cup of the stock/broth and process until smooth.

Heat 1 Tbs. of oil (I use the oil from frying the chiles) in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add onion and sauté until a deep, golden brown, ~10 minutes. Raise the temperature under the pot to medium-high. Pour the mixture in the blender through a strainer and into the pot carefully, being sure to push out as many of the juices as you can. Stir for a while as the mixture thickens and darkens. Mix in the remaining 5 cups of stock/broth (pour it into the blender jar and swirl first to get all of the good stuff out) and simmer uncovered over medium-low for ~30 minutes. Taste and season with salt, if needed.

Add the ribbons of kale to the pot and cook for 5 minutes or so. Ladle into warm bowls to serve and pass the tortilla strips, queso fresco cubes, and fried chiles to garnish as well as the lime wedges for squeezing.

adapted from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen

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If you're a Rick Bayless fan or want to get to know him, please join us over at IHCC during the next six months!

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IHCC theme: ¡Bienvenido, Rick!

My favorite TORTILLA SOUP + the results of my Tortilla Soup Quest

Ummmmm.  I seem to be right back where I started.  In my eleventh post (over two and a half years ago), I shared tortilla soup.  The only version of tortilla soup that I'd tried up to that point.  The only version I needed.  Until, that is, I discovered that there were many other versions floating around out there.  Yes, of course I should have realized that there were more.  It's just that I wasn't looking.  "My" version brought us endless joy.  You think I'm exaggerating, right?  I promise you, I'm not.  However, once I did start seeing some other versions around, I decided that I needed to go on a quest to try as many different versions as I could in a year.  I knew I'd find more if I asked you to come along on my adventure.  There were some fantastic discoveries along the way.  I found many that I liked, a few that I loved, and some that were not all that great.  Wanna know the funny thing?  Even after all of the tasting and testing...my first favorite remains my current favorite.  This will always be the tortilla soup that all other tortilla soups must measure up to.  What can I say? 

---

So.  This is how I like it.  Three main components:

1. the broth:  I prefer it brothy, not thick.  This is such a simple broth, but it's packed with flavor that just keeps getting better as it sits.  Sometimes, the simplest things really are the best.

Rustic "Tortilla" Soup

 Lest anyone get excited thinking that this is my final thoughts on Tortilla Soup post...or my What makes a great Tortilla Soup post...or the post announcing My Favorite Tortilla Soup: after the quest...I'll say right off the bat that it is not.  Sorry about that.  It may seem that I'm dragging my feet, but I'm actually working on a little project, so bear with me, please.  I will eventually post my favorite.  I mean, you didn't think that just because my year-long quest was over that I'd stop trying different versions of Tortilla Soup did you?  As if!  It only fueled my fire.

Yes, I say "tortilla" soup...because this is a very loose definition of this bowl of soup.  I mean, when Mexi took one look at it (after I told him that I made Tortilla Soup), he said "This!?  It looks like Vegetable Soup."  MmmHmm.  My thoughts exactly.  It's a veggie soup with tortilla croutons. It's pretty lackluster...as far as Tortilla Soup goes, that is.  I mean, it's a tasty veggie soup.  There's no heat and no flavor profile of a Tortilla Soup.  The added raw jalapeño as garnish does add some fire, but without it and the tortilla chips, you wouldn't guess it to be what it's labeled.  That said, don't be discouraged, it's a good soup in and of itself.  I actually cut down on the amount of veggies that were in the original recipe, too.  The one unique thing about this version that I pretty much adored was the addition of sage to the tortilla chips...that was pretty ingenious.  The earthiness was a perfect compliment.  I'll be remembering that for future versions.

Rustic Tortilla Soup
adapted from Jamie's America
serves 4

soup:
olive oil
1 onion, peeled & diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled & smashed
2 carrots, sliced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. Chicken Better than Bouillon
1 (14.5 oz.) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

garnish:
1 ripe avocado, diced
1 lime
1 jalapeño, sliced thinly
2 large handfuls tortilla chips
1 heaping tsp. dried sage

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Place a large soup pot on medium-low heat and pour in a good glug of olive oil.  Add onion, garlic, carrots, and bell peppers.  Sauté gently, stirring occasionally, until everything has softened, ~10-15 minutes.

Add fresh tomatoes, bay leaves, bouillon, and canned tomatoes.  Fill the can with water 2 times and add it to the pot.  Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and let bubble gently for ~20 minutes.

Lay the tortilla chips on a sheet tray, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with the sage.  Slide into preheated oven and cook for a few minutes, until warm and starting to turn golden on the edges.  In the meantime, grate the zest of the lime over your avocado and then squeeze the juice from that lime onto the avocado, as well...toss.

Adjust seasoning on soup with salt and pepper.  Divide soup between bowls and pass the garnishes!

It's a POTLUCK this week at IHCC.

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Tortilla Soup Quest/Challenge roundup #6 (the final roundup)

Okay, so it took me FAR too long to get this final roundup posted, and for that, I apologize.  It's been madness around here this month. MADNESS, I say.  Today I will be sharing the final bowls of Tortilla Soup brought to my year-long quest to find the ultimate Tortilla Soup.  Just a roundup.  I will be doing a separate post soon (hopefully soon) in which I share observations and what I've learned after being exposed to an infinite variety of Tortilla Soup recipes...plus I will unveil MY favorite version after all this time.  So, without further ado, I bring you the final installment of Tortilla Soups from my quest.

First up is Carol from There's Always Thyme to Cook with a luscious, Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup that was topped with lime, sour cream, fire-roasted salsa, and avocado.

Faith from In the Kitchen with Butters made a tangy and tempting Tortilla Soup with Lime that puts a smile on my face just looking at it.

This Chicken Tortilla Soup from Erin at Art+Food+Life found that when it comes to Tortilla Soup, she enjoys a simple soup best.  Me too!

Claire from Chez Cayenne has a great suggestion...grill up some veggies for your meal one night, and then use the leftovers to make this fantastic version of Grilled Vegetable Tortilla Soup.  On my summer to-do list, for sure.

Another one I'll be sure to try is this mouth-watering Shredded Beef Tortilla Soup from Danielle at Cooking for my Peace of Mind.  Combined with earthy poblanos, green oregano, and dried pasillas, it's a sure-fire hit for me.

And to close the show on this final act of the year, I (Heather at girlichef) was inspired by that creamy version up top, but needed to add a little creeping heat to mine in my take on Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup w/ Chicken & Corn.  So tasty.

And that concludes the final roundup in my Tortilla Soup series.  A mondo thanks to everybody who participated, I couldn't have done it without all of your delicious help!  Stay tuned for the "Wrap-Up" post that will be coming soon...

Creamy Tortilla Soup w/ Chicken & Corn

With less than two weeks to go in my year-long quest to try as many versions of Tortilla Soup as possible...with the help of my friends...I want to share this creamy version that has an unexpected heat that seems to lie beneath the bright, creamy pool that fills each spoonful.

I was intrigued by a tortilla soup recipe that Carol linked up the the quest, and decided I needed to try it as soon as humanly possible. It was a creamy version...and I had yet to try a TS labeled "creamy". I was completely intrigued by the use of turmeric in the recipe...but also saw some things I wanted to add or change up a bit. Since there were no chiles in the original recipe, I knew that I would need to add some heat.

Tortilla Soup Quest/Challenge roundup #5

ONE MONTH LEFT!
I can hardly believe that I started this quest almost a whole year ago.  Time definitely flies when you're having fun.  This is roundup numero cinco!  You  have linked up so many fantastic variations of Tortilla Soup over the last 11 months...and these are no exception.

I have been compiling a list of my favorite components to come up with my "ULTIMATE" version.  I hope to make a couple more versions in this last month...and to have as many more as possible linked up from YOU.  Yes, you!  Please join me in drooling over these bowls of Tortilla Soup...and hopefully adding more version to this caldo gigante!

Miranda from Mangoes and Chutney made a delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup that has "so much going on in this soup, it is fantastic. The white hominy gives it a flavor and texture I have never tasted before."  Okay.  I'm a believer!

Kate from Kate's Konfessions brought a Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup sure to warm us up in the winter...or anytime for that matter!

Next up is Christi from Grey Umbrella with a Chicken Tortilla Soup she calls "the easiest chicken tortilla soup!  (It's) delicious and filling, plus it freezes well."  Yum.

And just when you were beginning to wonder how many versions of Chicken Tortilla Soup are actually out there, Judy from Savoring Today brings another version to the table!  She likens it to having a burrito in a bowl and shares some great tips on how to make the best version possible.

Over at Uncanny Goodness, Milda put time and thought into her Roasted Chicken Tortilla Soup.  From the roasting of the chicken to the layering of the flavors, she brings us a fabulous SUPERbowl!

AmiNYC says "This soup comes together so quickly, you’re done almost as soon as you start. Everything in one pot, everything at one time. Can’t possibly be easier than that."  Check out her delicious Tortilla Soup with toasted spices I can almost smell from here over at From the Bookshelf.

Glennis of Can't Believe We Ate brings us Christina's World Famous Tortilla Soup, of which she says "Seriously yum...this is one of the very best Tortilla soups I’ve ever had.  So far."

Next up is this gorgeous Low Calorie Chicken Tortilla Soup brought to us by Candy of Eating Well on the Road, who developed this version because she loves a good hearty Tortilla Soup, but not the calories and sodium that sometimes accompany it.

Inspired by the film Tortilla Soup, my friend Deb from Kahakai Kitchen decided to go nuevo and bring some beautiful "arty" bowls of Tortilla Soup.  Not only was it tempting to the eyes, but also satisfying and delicious in the belly. I'm loving the guacamole in the bowl. So fun!

Trying my first version that was actually sort of sweet and laced with cinnamon here at girlichef, I loved the deep red satisfying broth in this Ancho Chicken Tortilla Soup.

I hope you'll join me in the last month of my quest to find the ULTIMATE TORTILLA SOUP!

Ancho Chicken Tortilla Soup ...for Food 'n Flix & the Tortilla Soup Quest!

It probably won't surprise any of you who know me even a little bitty bit that the movie I chose for Food 'n Flix this month was Tortilla Soup!  {warning: there's a few spoilers in my summary} Tortilla Soup weaves the tale of a Mexican American family...Martín, a widower of 15 years and his daughters Leticia, Carmen, and Maribel.  Martín is a chef who has lost his sense of taste and smell, but still cooks lavish family dinners for his family on a regular basis.  It begins with a food scene so intense that it never fails to make my mouth watering and my stomach rumble.  Fresh chiles, tomatoes, nopales and avocados are plucked from the garden and chopped, sliced, stirred, mashed, cooked and loved into an amazing meal along with beautiful fresh fish all wrapped in green banana leaves and piled high on gorgeous, earthenware platters in the kitchen of my dreams.  This is a story of love and relationships between father and daughters, between sisters, between men and women, between family and food.  From Carmen, the business woman who would rather follow her passion and her father's legacy in the kitchen to Leticia the school marm who surprises everybody by eloping to the youngest, Maribel who is just trying to find herself and be heard.  Love can blossom in the most unexpected places and as long as you have your loved ones around you and begin to accept change...then the flavors and smells of life will come bursting through!

While there is an amazing variety of Mexican and Nuevo Latino food to choose from and drool over, I was ready to try a new version of Tortilla Soup and what better time than immediately after watching Tortilla Soup. Again.  Seriously, I never tire of this film.  The version I made is based on a recipe by Rachael Ray.  Strange, right...I mean, I don't automatically connect her with Mexican food.  But I did change things up quite a bit, but her recipe made a fantastic base.  I do love the enticing, deep  red broth chock full of so many goodies...although in the end, I do prefer a "plain" soup base (as opposed to chunky...really, who needs all those extras in the soup base itself).  Sure, it still needs to back some killer flavor into that base, but really Tortilla Soup is all about the toppings.

One of my favorite parts of this movie is a dinner scene when the family sits down to a steaming pot of Tortilla Soup and Leticia introduces her new husband, Orlando (which the family is meeting for the first time).  Leticia dishes him up a bowl of Martín's Tortilla Soup, and she holds up the toppings in a questioning way and he stammers back nervously... "I love toppings.  I've always liked toppings.  Sometimes I go to restaurants and I just ask for toppings.  You know, I say, the more toppings the merrier.  That's what I say."  Ha ha ha ha ha.  But that's so true.  A tortilla soup is only as good as its toppings.

Ancho Chicken Tortilla Soup

inspired and adapted liberally from Rachael Ray via Food Network

serves: 6-8

soup:

2 large ancho chiles, seeded and stemmed

2 qt. chicken stock

1 Tbs. olive oil

2 c. corn (from ~4 ears or use frozen, defrosted)

1 large red onion, chopped

2 jalapeños, seeded and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tsp. smoked paprika

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

1 (14.5 oz.) can diced, fire-roasted tomatoes

1 Tbs. honey

~3 c. chicken, cooked & shredded

salt, to taste

toppings:

Corn Tortillas, snipped & fried or baked (or break up store-bought tortilla chips or even hard taco shells)

avocado, diced

cilantro

crema (Mexican table cream)

queso fresco, cubed or crumbled

lime wedges

Combine anchos and chicken stock in a 3 qt. (or thereabouts) pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chiles are tender, ~5 minutes. Turn off heat. Let cool a bit, then transfer chiles to the jar of a blender. Add enough of the broth so that they blend smoothly (~2 c.) and blend until smooth. Set a wire strainer over the pot, then pour back into the pot (trapping the skins in the strainer...discard them). Put about a half a cup of water into the blender jar and swirl it around to get all of the purée that is left on the inside...out. Pour that through the strainer back into the pot, as well and set aside.

Place oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven and heat on high. Add the corn and sauté until charred at the edges, ~3 minutes. Reduce the heat a little, add the onions, jalapeños, and garlic. Season with cumin, smoked paprika and cinnamon. Sauté for ~4-5 minutes, stirring and moving everything around constantly. The spices will begin to stick to the pan, but as long as you keep stirring, they should not burn. Tip in the tomatoes and their juices, and gently release that beautiful fond from the bottom of the pan.

Add honey, then stir in the the puréed ancho broth and shredded chicken. Let soup bubble, slowly and gently for ~10 minutes to let the flavors come together. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, if necessary (this will depend on if you used salted stock or broth...so taste it first!).

Pile each bowl high with the toppings (crispy tortillas, avocado, cilantro, sour cream, queso fresco) and ladle the soup over everything. Pass lime wedges for people to squeeze over their servings, as they like.

my thoughts: The flavor of this particular Tortilla soup was sweet, smoky, deep and pretty amazing.  And actually, it was a bit sweet from the corn and the honey and the tomatoes...with that hint of cinnamon that lies beneath.  But the sweetness wasn't an unpleasant sweetness.  It was tempered nicely with that nice smoky heat of the paprika and anchos...and for those of us who wanted to spice it up, we added a few hits of Chipotle Hot Sauce (either Cholula or Tabasco). But, as usual, it was all about the toppings...the cubes of queso fresco add a chewy saltiness...the avocado and crema add cool, creamy spots...the tortillas and chicken add an earthy toothsomeness...and a finishing hit of tangy lime rounds the whole thing out.

So, aside from this being my Food 'n Flix: Tortilla Soup entry, it also allows me to tuck another Tortilla Soup under my belt for my own personal Tortilla Soup Challenge/Quest.

A couple of quick notes: 1) Food 'n Flix goes on the road next month!  That's right, it's going to be a traveling event.  You will still find all the information you need about upcoming flix and hosts (with their flix pix) and previously viewed flix right at the site...it will be "the studio".  You can see the list of future host sites and which movies to rent/buy/borrow/prepare for by looking here.  2) There is just over one month left of my year-long quest to try (with your help) as many different versions of Tortilla Soup as we possibly can.  If you haven't yet added a soup to the quest, you can still do so any time until the last day of May.  It can be newly posted or previously posted.  I'm not picky.  I just love me some Tortilla Soup.


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*Saturdays with Rachael Ray at Taste and Tell