This past weekend, I had the most delicious memorable authentic Mexican feast! I credit it to recipes from Rick Bayless’ cookbook: Everyday Mexican. My dinner companion and I made homemade tomatillo apple salsa with chips, authentic Mexican tortilla soup and a lovely red leaf lettuce salad tossed with homemade zesty lime cilantro vinaigrette.
In my last post, I talked briefly about part of the process of making the tortilla soup, but allow me to go into a little more detail. The recipe called for 2 quarts of vegetable broth, 1 can (in juice) fire roasted tomatoes, 1 whole white onion, pan roasted tomatillos and a little olive oil. I had some leftover asparagus stalks and a Portobello mushroom in the fridge, so we tossed that in too. At first, my dinner companion was a little hesitant to add those two extras, wondering if it would detract from the taste we were trying to achieve. It didn’t detract from it at all, and if anything added to the flavor, if only subtly.
My dinner companion pan fried the tomatillos. I had never tasted a raw tomatillo before, so as he was slicing them, preparing them for the pan, he gave me a taste. I nibbled at it a bit—almost hesitant, because I had never had it before. Then once the flavor hit my mouth, I loved it! It tasted, to me, like a cross between a cucumber and tomato. Yum! He pan roasted the tomatillos. I chopped the asparagus and onion into ¼ inch pieces and sliced the mushrooms. Then he poured the vegetables into the pan and let them sauté for about 7 minutes.
When they were brown and coated and looked delicious, he took all the ingredients in the pan (onion, mushroom, asparagus and of course the tomatillos) and poured them into a blender jar. He also added ¾ cup of olive oil and 1 can (in juice) of fire roasted tomatoes. He blended the ingredients together until they resembled a thick tomato paste. I dipped my finger in the paste to check taste and smiled approvingly.
He then poured the vegetable paste pack into the same pan he had sautéed the vegetables in, to retain as much flavor as possible. I then turned the heat on medium and stirred the paste constantly for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, in a big soup pot, he dumped in the 2 quarts of vegetable broth and started to let it simmer. After 6 minutes of stirring the paste, we added it to the simmering broth. Then we proceeded to pan fry the tofu. Refer to my first post for more info on preparing the tofu.
As I was preparing the tofu, my dinner companion prepared the soup bowls. Inside these bowls he tossed in broken up tortillas, diced Monterey Jack cheese and sliced avocado, with fresh sliced lime on the side for taste.
We continued to let the soup simmer for a few minutes and then ladled it into the prepared bowls. This soup was amazing! The cheese and tofu and all the rich vegetable flavors provided not just a comfort on a cold winter’s night, but knowing I had just picked up all these fresh ingredients at the store just a few hours before gave me a sense of pride. I could enjoy this soup and know there were no thickening agents or preservatives added!
So if you’re looking for a comfort food in the midst of this cold La Nina winter, make this authentic Mexican tortilla soup. It’s hot, full of sustenance and most importantly… delicious! Tomorrow, check back for a new post to learn how we made the homemade tomatillo salsa.