Gutsy Cooks Club Sopa de Tortilla

When we picked our recipes this month for The Gutsy Cooks Club we tried to pick things that made since for the season but also balanced that with the fact that in Washington June is barely spring let alone summer weather yet so some of our picks were to accommodate this factor.

And one my favorite dishes regardless of the time of the year is Tortilla Soup (Sopa de Tortilla.)

The first few years we started going to Mexico I would order tortilla soup in every restaurant we ate at just to experience as many versions as I could. And I've had a lot of versions over the years. My favorite Cabo style Tortilla Soup is from Edith's restaurant an amazing restaurant and experience if you ever get to Cabo.

Edith's Restaurant, Cabo San Lucas

Their version was tomato based with a great depth of flavor from the chiles.

Edith's Tortilla soup

We modified The Illustrated Kitchen Bible's version to try imitate the Edith's version.

A few immediate changes to the recipe include:

•  Adding shredded chicken to make the soup a meal.
• Instead of using dried ancho chiles I roasted poblano ( the fresh version of ancho) and jalapeno.
• Instead of shredded cheese on top I used cubed cheese that has a high melting point that you first add to the bowl and fish out as a melty treasure to be found.
•  I also switched out using fresh tomatoes for a can of fire roasted tomatoes. Because tomatoes are not tasty this time of year yet and the fire roasted flavor adds a great additional depth of flavor to the broth.

The roasted peppers really add a depth of flavor that doesn't compare in my opinion.

While my chiles were roasting I chopped my onion and garlic.

I then sliced my corn tortillas into strips and placed them in the oven to cook. (the recipe calls to fry but they really don't need that extra fat.)

They cook up crisp and perfect for the soup without the frying.

Next the peppers, tomatoes, onion and garlic went in the blender for creating the right consistency.

I then added the chile mixture to the soup pot with the chicken stock, salt/pepper and the shredded chicken and brought it to a boil.

I then cubed my cheese and prepared my accompaniments: cilantro, lime and chopped avocado. 

At Edith's all the goodies come in your bowl and when they serve it to you they pour the hot broth over the top. It's really is a great presentation. I decided to serve my goodies on the side.

G opened our favorite everyday Spanish Granache, Feugo, to serve with our Tortilla Soup.

We were ready to serve our soup, I placed the cubes of cheese at the bottom of the bowl

then added the broth mixture with chicken

and the accompanying goodies we also like a little topping of Mexican Crema as well.

The soup was amazing. So good with an incredibly deep, rich flavor from the chiles. It really was on of the best versions we've made at home thus far. And we've made quite a few.

One step we forgot that G especially loves is adding some fried reconstituted dried chiles as a topper as well. That was my fault I got distracted by the roasted chiles and forgot that step.

Our Version of Tortilla Soup:

2 Tblspn vegetable oil

1/2 white onion chopped

4 large garlic cloves minced

1 16oz. canned fire roasted tomatoes diced

2 poblano (or pasilla) chiles roasted

1 jalapenos roasted ( 1 for the broth, 1 for accompanying topper)

2 cups shredded chicken breast

6 cups chicken broth

6 small corn tortillas cut into strips

3 Tblspn chopped cilantro

2 limes quartered

salt & pepper

3/4 cup cubed queso fresco cheese (or Monterrey jack)

Chopped avocado

Mexican Crema

Bake tortilla strips in 400 degree oven until crispy ( 10-15 minutes.)

Roasted peppers under the broiler until blackened. When black let them steam 15 minutes. Remove skins from pepper and roughly chopped and add to blender.

Shred chicken breast. Saute onion & garlic on stove top in vegetable oil. Add onion, garlic and canned fire roasted tomatoes to blender with chiles. Blend/puree until smooth.

Pour chile mixture into soup pan, add chicken broth. Bring to boil. Once boiling reduced heat to low add salt & pepper and chicken to pot.

Place cheese cubes in bottom of soup bowls. Pour soup over the top of cheese. Squeeze lime into soup. Top with avocado, tortilla strips, cilantro and Mexican crema.