Is it still winter?
I guess it still feels like winter, so its still winter. sigh.... I think I saw some flowers popping up today, but geez, they must be shivering. Emma tells me we may get snow on Thursday. To that I say "oh great..." but then I think to myself if its gonna be this cold, it might as well snow.
Because it is still very much soup weather in my mind, I wanted to share with you our newest "go-to soup". This would be part of our families "go-to" dinner list (default meals that work when I'm desperate), which we are using quite a bit this week. There is a teensy bit of background here. You see, to know me is to know that I love the tortilla soup at Tacos Guymas here in town. I crave that soup (in my sleep even). The kids and I go there to eat every couple of weeks or so when we're out until dinner, and I talk them into going there, really, just so I can order that soup. Its served to me in a super large bowl, way too big for one meal (so, lucky me, I get to have it the next day too). Its full of shredded chicken, bright green avocados, cilantro, queso cheese, tortilla chips (that somehow never get soggy), just full of flavor and extremely satisfying.
It has been a goal to recreate this soup at home and I think I finally have it. Its simple, and I usually have most of the ingredients on hand. And, depending on how much refuge you take in the kitchen preparing dinner, you can certainly cook the chicken yourself, but I usually opt for the local market's pre-roasted whole chicken for ease. If you plan to do this, keep everything else you add unsalted to compensate for the salt in the roasted chicken.
If you try it let me know.
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Tortilla soup (serves 4-6)
2 tsp. olive oil
1 white or yellow onion, chopped small
2 scallions, chopped small and including 1/3 of the green stem
2 32 oz. boxes of reduced sodium chicken stock
1 large avocado
3/4 cup queso cheese
3 cups of shredded, pre-cooked chicken- white meat only
finely chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
unsalted tortilla strips (recipe below)
freshly ground pepper
1. Heat olive oil over med. high heat in a dutch oven or your favorite soup pot. Add onions and cook to soften (not brown), add scallions, cook for one minute more.
2. Pour in chicken broth, then add in shredded chicken. Heat through for 15 minutes.
3. slice Avocado evenly into bite-sized chunks, add to soup pot. Add some pepper.
4. To serve, ladle soup in bowl, add in queso cheese, then tortilla chips, then cilantro.
*Leftover soup is fine with chicken and avocado in it, but store the tortilla chips, cilantro, and queso cheese separately.
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Tortilla chips
If you don't have unsalted tortilla chips, its easy to make your own with corn tortillas. Heat 1 tsp of olive oil in a pan on med high heat. Cut 4 tortilla into strips, add to a pan, let them brown a tiny bit, turning them occasionally, until they are crispy.
And let me say, I do love my kitchen for many reasons, but there is absolutely no way I can get a great shot of anything in there, the lighting is just not good for it! Drives me nuts. Thank god this isn't a food blog!
And lastly, I leave you with a photo Peter took today, to show me who finally discovered the beanbag-
