AUTHENTIC MEXICAN TORTILLA SOUP

                                                                                     

About five years ago the 5 of us went to San Miguel de Allende for Christmas.  We had a fabulous time, and I highly recommend it as a wonderful city to visit.  The trip itself was very special to our family, and we have lots of fun stories to tell.  Of course we ate scrumptious meals, but there was a tortilla soup my kiddos fell in love with so much that we ate it several times -- especially if we had been drinking margaritas all night and needed a little something extra in our stomachs.  The restaurant was Hecho en Mexico, and by the way there is an Austin restaurant by that name.  After visiting with the chef I learned that he had family that worked at the restaurant in San Miguel.  The food here is excellent, but unfortunately they don't make the tortilla soup.   Eric and Lauren loved it so much that Eric did his best to duplicate it.  This is my version of his version of the authentic tortilla soup.  It is a much thicker tomato base than the other tortilla soup that I make which I also love.  Try them both.  In our home there can never be too much Mexican-flavored food! 

BTW no clue why the blog below is double spaced.  This blog software is a nightmare to use and from one recipe to the next nothing stays the same. I have spent hours trying to figure it out and have tried to change blogs, but the recipes won't transfer easily; and I have too many recipes to retype them.  So I apologize for the appearance of this blog.  Hopefully the recipes are worth dealing with the inconsistent appearance.  My frustration is out the roof with it!!

1 TB butter & 1 TB oil (I used avocado oil)

1 yellow onion, diced

6 cloves garlic, diced

2 - 28 oz cans good quality whole tomatoes (I used Cento)

3 TB fresh epazote, coarsely diced (or cilantro if you can't find epazote)

4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

3 c. chicken broth

1 TB kosher salt

2-3 c. frozen corn (I use Trader Joe's frozen Roasted Corn)

1 rotisserie chicken, deboned and diced

Toppings:

Avocado

Questo panela, cut in 1/2" cubes

Shredded gouda or cotija cheese

Mexican crema or sour cream

Tortilla strips*

Leftover adobo sauce, stirred in if you want more of a kick

In a skillet heat the butter and oil.  Saute the onion until soft; stir in the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds more.  Put the onion and garlic in a blender, reserving the skillet to use later.

Also in the blender add the tomatoes, epazote (or cilantro) and chipotle peppers, making sure there is plenty of adobo sauce on each pepper.  Blend until smooth and pour back into the skillet.  Add the chicken broth and salt and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer on low heat about 20 minutes until the flavors have melded.  Check it periodically and stir to be sure it isn't sticking. Stir in the corn and chicken and simmer just until both are heated.

Serve while hot, stirring in the queso panela cubes so they will soften and slightly melt.  We also added a little shredded gouda to our bowls as well as the avocado, crema, and tortilla strips.  Since my family likes a bit of a kick we stirred in the rest of the can of adobo sauce.

*You can strip and fry fresh corn tortillas for the topping, but I just bought the packaged tortilla strips that are usually with other packaged salad toppers.