Anne's Site » soup

Tortilla Soup

Anne — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 15:44:30 +0000

Recently served at the 32nd annual summer Lunch on the Mountain (although we missed one year), this soup was deemed quite acceptable by all. The recipe came from Gourmet, May 1997, and was attributed to the Hotel Bel-Air in LA. This is the original recipe. However I often taken a few liberties with it depending on what we have on hand and never use as much oil as the recipe calls for.

12 6-inch corn tortillas
1/2 cup vegetable oil, plus additional for frying tortillas
1/4 cups leeks, chopped
1 tbsp. cumin, ground
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. New Mexico chili powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1/2 tsp. coriander ground
1/2 c. white wine
2 c. onions, chopped
1/4 c. celery, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 lbs. vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
1/4 c. tomato puree
2 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
3 bay leaves
8 c. chicken stock

Diced cooked chicken
Diced avocado
Grated cheddar cheese
Chopped cilantro

Cut tortillas into 2- by 1/4-inch strips. Fry in 4 batches until golden and crisp, about 1 minute. Drain.
In large heavy kettle cook three fourths tortilla strips with cumin, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, and ground coriander in 1/2 cup oil over moderate heat stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Add leek, onion, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, tomato puree, chopped coriander, bay leaves, and stock. Bring soup to a boil and simmer, covered, 1 hour.
Cool soup 10 minutes and in a food processor puree in batches until smooth, transferring to a bowl. Force soup through a fine sieve into cleaned kettle, pressing hard on solids and discarding them. Season with salt.
Serve garnished with chicken, avocado, cheddar, and cilantro

Mary Ann’s Borscht

Anne — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:58:26 +0000

With Christmas rapidly approaching I would be remiss not to share my sister-in-law’s recipe for Borscht. We have had a couple of opportunities to share this delicious Christmas Eve tradition from Mary Ann’s family and may have to adopt it ourselves.

Borscht from Kiev
Stock:	Soup:
1 ½ pounds beef chuck roast boneless 1 pound beef marrow bones 1 pound ham bone meaty or pork hocks with added ham meat 1 onion large grated 1 carrot grated 3 quarts water 1 turnip peeled and grated 1 celery rib w/leaves sliced 3 dill sprigs 12 peppercorns whole 4 bay leaves	3 beets large, peeled and grated 16 ounces plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped 1 onion large chopped 1 carrot slice or chopped 1/4 cup sunflower oil 1 teaspoon salt 4 cups cabbage shredded 3 tablespoons tomato paste 6 prunes pitted and chopped 1 teaspoon honey 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground cider or rice vinegar to taste ½ cup sour cream 2 bacon strips 3 tablespoons parsely 3 tablespoons dill
Place meat bones, meat, water in large stock bot and bring to boil over high heat. Skim as needed. Add the remaining stock ingredients, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash, dry, peel the beets. Wrap them in aluminum foil and bake in oven for 1 hour. Allow to cool, and dice. Remove the ham bones from the stock. Set marrow bones aside. Strain the stock through a fine sieve. Discard the solids. Bring the stock to a boil, add the tomatoes, salt and peppper on low heat covered. Cook the onions, carrot in a skillet for 5 minutes. Stir in the cabbage and continue to saute for 10 more minutes. Remove the vegetables from heat and add to the stock. Sprinkle the juice of a lemon over the beets and add them to the stock. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and home. Remove the meat from the bones, strip the marrow. Cube the meet and add all of this to the stock. Remove from heat and add vinegar to taste. Serve with sour cream, bacon, parsley, dill.

Pumpkin Soup with Blue Toast

Anne — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 05:32:33 +0000

During our restaurant days, I bought up the rest of a pumpkin patch every year after Halloween so we could continue to make pumpkin pies until spring. I still buy pumpkins every fall, although not on quite such a grand scale. I cook them and freeze the puree. So when I saw this recipe at Whole Foods Market, it seemed like a natural.

1/4 c. butter
2/3 c. finely chopped onion
1/2 c. finely chopped celery
1/2 c. finely chopped carrots
1 T. minced shallot
3 1/2 c. pumpkin puree
2 c. chicken or vegetable broth
1 1/2 c. water
Thyme leaves (about 1T. fresh or less dried)
1/2 c. cream
Salt and pepper
French bread
Blue cheese

In large saucepan, melt butter. Add onions, celery, celery, carrots and shallot. Saute until onions are soft.
Add pumpkin, broth and water. Cook until vegetables are tender.
Puree in a blender or processor. Return to pan and add thyme, cream, salt and pepper. Reheat without boiling
Slice French bread and broil until golden and crisped. Sprinkle with blue cheese. Serve soup with toasts floating on top.

Serves 6