Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup

We had this soup in Taos, New Mexico around 1990.  I so enjoyed it that I asked if I could get the recipe, and they informed me that it was in the ‘Taos Recipe’ cookbook that was sold at the cash register, I went to buy it and they were all sold out and they were not sure they would be getting any more.  Well the hunt was on; I had to have that cookbook.  It was a cookbook comprised of the best dishes from the best restaurants in Taos at the time.  Checked a few spots that night and everyone was sold out, and each sent me on a scavenger hunt to where they thought there would still be one that I could buy.   Therefore, the next day I forwent skiing in search of my quest a $12.00 ever-elusive paperback cookbook. By mid-day, I had found my treasure in a small restaurant off the beaten path, where there was so much construction going on that there was no parking within a block of the restaurant.

Upon getting back home I had to start trying some of the recipes, some are outstanding and some were just so-so.  However, this Chicken Tortilla Soup is one that I make several times a year.  It can be made in under an hour, but I usually let it simmer for couple of hours so that the flavors merge.

 I often cook the chicken lightly seasoned with salt and pepper on the grill or pan-fry it in just an enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan.  In both cases, I want the outside to be nice a golden brown.  If I pan-fry it, I use the same dutch oven that I will cook the soup in.  The flavors in bottom of the pan will deglaze as we cook the soup and add another layer of flavor richness.

I prefer to get the outer skin tough waxy skin off the peppers.  Here is my way; I use a propane blowtorch toscorch the outside of the peppers turning the skin black.  I lay the pepper on the grill setting each far enough apart so that I can flame kiss each pepper, then I turn the peppers over and do the other side. After the peppers are blackened, I place them in a glass bowl cover it and let them steam until they have cooled enough to handle.  After the peppers cool, all of the skin should peel off. If you use fresh chili peppers, they will vary greatly on heat, and most of the heat will be on the stem end in the seeds.  To remove most of the seeds cut through the outer edge of the pepper about an eight to a quartet of an inch down from the end, but do not cut the seed pod attached to the stem and pull the stem with most of the seeds still attached out of the pepper.
  

Soup

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken cut into small pieces approximately 3/8 inch square.

1/2 cup sliced green onions

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup finely chopped green chili peppers such as Anaheim, New Mexico Green, Paplano, as a last resort you could use a canned fire roasted green chili.

6 cups chicken broth,  I use Swanson’s Chicken Broth

2 limes

The following are to placed on the table for each person to add to the broth.

1 cup diced tomatoes

2 avocados cut into thin wedges

1/2 cup cilantro

6-8 thinly cut lime slices
1 cup grated white cheese such as Monterey Jack

2 cups of cooked white rice

1 large bowl of shoestring fried tortilla strips. Lightly salted with sea salt* see the instructions at the end for  shoestring fried tortilla strips.

Preparation 

Sauté the green onions and garlic over medium high heat approximately 2 minutes, do not let the garlic burn.

Add the peppers, chicken and chicken broth. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Cook the rice

Just before serving squeeze in the juice from 1 lime and salt to taste

Here is how we serve the soup

A bowl of soup for each diner, then each person adds as much rice as they would like.  Then on top of the rice, we form three stripes a green from the cilantro and avocados, a white from the cheese, and a red from the tomatoes, then place a handful of the shoestring tortilla stripes in the center.  Thus resembling a Mexican flag.

Fried Shoestring Tortilla Strips

20 fresh corn tortillas

4 - 6 cups vegetable oil (we use peanut oil)

Cut the tortillas into approx 1/4 wide strips

Heat the oil to 350°F to 375°F

When the oil is hot add the tortilla strips to the hot oil, do not add too many at one time the hot oil will boil out.  A good rule of thumb would be to fry the equivalent of 2 - 3 tortillas at a time.

Fry for approximately 3 minutes until the strips a crisp.  There will only be a few bubbles coming of off each tortilla strip when they are done.

Allow the oil to drain from the fried tortilla strips, place then in a bowl and lightly salt with sea salt.

Clifton