Here’s an update on the tortilla soup project for those of you following along. I did make it tonight. The youngest declared it perfect. I will confess that for a brief few moments, it cleared my sinuses.
I’m a hot food wimp. There’s just no other way to explain it. The rest of my family – even she who has just discovered spicy foods – demands I am missing something, but that’s just the way it is for me. Spicy food bites back. End of discussion.
So, here’s the recipe I concocted. I will, when making it again, opt for a milder chili offering than the one I used. But like I said, tonight I got to breath, and that’s not such a bad thing.
Cindy’s Tortilla soup
Half a white onion
One clove garlic
A splash of olive oil
Teaspoon of cumin seeds, crushed
One 32 ounce carton of chicken stock
One can of diced tomatoes – tonight was fire roasted tomatoes with medium chilis
Salt to taste
Queso blanco (a softer white cheese)
Avocado
Three corn tortillas
Peanut oil
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Finely dice the onion and garlic (or cheat like me and scoop a teaspoon out of the garlic jar in the fridge) and let them soften a bit in a dash of olive oil. Crush the cumin seeds – I used a mortar and pestle – and toss them into the mix.
Add about a quarter cup of chicken stock. Place the chicken breast on top and cover. In 4 or 5 minutes, check to see if more stock is needed. The goal is to poach the chicken breast, not stew it, so that it will shred easily. There’s a chance if you don’t watch it you’ll burn things. (Now how would I know that?)
After about 15 minutes total, remove the breast and add the rest of the stock and the tomatoes. Add salt to taste. Let simmer.
Shred the breast and return to the soup. Cook on low until the other ingredients are ready, or turn off and reheat later in the day.
Dice an avocado. (If you aren’t up on your avocado technique, spend a couple of minutes on the internet. I’m surprised how much easier the job is if I dice it in the skin and scoop it out instead of scooping and then dicing.)
Dice the cheese, about an ounce per serving.
Slice the tortillas into thin strips and fry them in hot peanut oil (or any other oil that fries super hot without smoking up your kitchen.) Drain them on a paper towel.
All the goodies go into the soup as a serving. For me the avocado was a blessing after the spice of tonight’s soup. If I’d had it, I probably would have drizzled some sour cream across the top.
As I suspected, the cumin was an important flavor. By using it early as I poached the chicken, the chicken had a little of the flavor, too. (At least from what I could tell in my currently impaired tasting situation.)
Hope you enjoy.
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