Tasty Tortilla Soup!

Another great recipe from another great blogger- this time we have Tortilla Soup from Matt over at mattbites.com. Having made this a couple times already, I simply cannot wait for summer when tomatoes will be at their best and will taste even more fantastic after being roasted and pureed.

A surprisingly easy and quick recipe, this is great weeknight meal and when you add a small quesadilla (made in the microwave) or a small fresh salad you'll have enough soup for leftovers!

Let's get started shall we?

Because I made this batch of soup in fast forward and at night the pictures might be lacking.... but the process is so easy you could do it blindfolded (maybe)! Either way, you start by putting 8 tomatoes, 1 onion halved , a jalapeno and 2 cloves of garlic onto a cookie sheet and broil them in the oven until the skins darken.

Let the veggies cool off a bit then remove their skins and add the flesh and 1/2 cup of water to the blender. Now I forgot to buy a jalapeno, so I added in a couple slices of the pickled variety and this worked just fine. Another mishap was my garlic got completely charred- next time I'm going to keep an eye on the little buggers and take them out earlier... I used some raw garlic instead.

Once the veggies are pureed, strain the mixture into a hot pot. Let the mixture boil up until it turns dark red. Which is not really the case in the pot below.. something to improve for next time!

Finally add in the chicken broth

Might need to fry or bake some tortilla strips

Just top it off with some cheese and maybe a lime wedge.

mmmmmh- Mexican food

Tortilla Soup
From this recipe on Mattbites.com

• 8 tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves with skin on
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 8 cups chicken stock (you can easily use vegetable stock too!)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 2 anaheim chiles
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 corn tortillas (and of course you can fry more if you want, I certainly wouldn’t mind)
• oil for frying1
• cup Oaxacan cheese
• lime

Broil the tomatoes, onions, chiles and garlic in the oven til blackened. Make sure to flip over and broil them completely. Once done remove the skin from the tomatoes, garlic and chiles.
Place the tomatoes, onion, chiles and garlic in a blender with 1/2 cup of water and puree. Strain the mixture.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pot over medium high heat and add the pureed mixture. Boil it until it thickens and turks a dark red, about 5 minutes. Add the stock and salt to taste and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes.

Cut the tortillas into 1/2-inch strips and fry in hot oil until golden brown. Careful not to burn them! Dry them on paper towels to remove excess oil.

To serve the soup place the tortilla strips in the bowl and ladle the soup over them. Garnish with cheese and a wedge of lime and if you’re feeling colorful you can add chopped cilantro on top.