OR WOOFTANG PUFF AS THE KIDS SAY:

A bowl of Mexican soul: Vibrant with color and flavor, tortilla soup can be a revelation (Regina Schrambling, 12/08/05, Los Angeles Times)

Classic tortilla soup, the way you'd find it in Mexico City, is simply good chicken broth combined with roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, chiles and tortillas, cut into strips and fried. It's wonderfully satisfying, "a sort of soul food soup," as Mexican cooking authority Diana Kennedy puts it.

In California, it's often made with a tomato base thickened with ground tortillas, but there are variations throughout the country, such as a bean soup enriched with crunchy strips of fried tortillas.

"To be really authentic, the soup should have only a little white onion, raw not cooked, blended with roasted tomato," says Kennedy, speaking from her home near Zitácuaro in the state of Michoacán.

The blend is fried, "to intensify the flavor," she says. "Then it goes into the broth." In addition to chile and tortillas, the soup ought to include epazote. "A tortilla soup without epazote is not worth eating, to my mind. But I'm a purist," she says. [...]

Café Verde tortilla soup

Total time: 55 minutes
Serves: 4

Note: From Café Verde in Pasadena. Look for ground dried ancho chiles (sometimes labeled pasillo) in the spice section of selected markets, especially Latino markets.

Ingredients:
2 Roma tomatoes
1/2 large white onion, peeled
6 whole corn tortillas, plus 2 more cut into thin strips and fried for garnish
2 dried ancho chiles
2 Tbsps. olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup vegetable stock, or more to taste
1 quart water
1 1/4 tsps. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. ground dried ancho chiles, or more to taste
1/2 cup sour cream

1. In batches, on a grill or rack (such as a cooling rack) over an open stovetop flame, roast the tomatoes, onion and whole tortillas until lightly spotted with brown, then roast the chiles for a few seconds (after which they'll start to burn). Break the tortillas into pieces.

2. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic cloves and sauté over medium-low heat for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with a wooden spoon. Add the onion, chiles, tortilla pieces, bay leaf and cilantro. Cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add the tomato juice, stock and water. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the heat and, using a blending wand or blender, purée the mixture, in batches if necessary, until smooth. Strain the mixture through a sieve, pressing on the solids; discard the solids.

5. Return the soup to the cleaned pan and add salt, white pepper and ground chile. Rewarm the soup; if it seems too thick, stir in additional stock or water. Garnish with fried tortilla strips and sour cream.

Wolfgang Puck actually markets a pretty darn good Tortilla Soup and it's ready in 3 minutes.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 8, 2005 11:45 AM