Jeremy’s Tortilla Soup

This is my son Jeremy’s general concept recipe for tortilla soup. Adapt the level of heat to your taste. The kid can cook (this soup made his Momma very proud). If you like a little spice and depth of flavour, you will love this soup!

Ingredients

For the Stock:

Step 1 Ingredients

• 4-6 chicken thighs – skin on, bone in (or remove if you prefer)
• 1 tsp of black pepper balls
• 3-4 dried Guajillo chilis,  if you have low spice tolerance use less. You can mix and match chilis. Jeremy has made it with Pasilla and Ancho chilis but his favourite is Guajillo.
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed (no need to chop).
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 whole cloves
• salt to taste
• enough water to cover
• *if you have any left over roasted corn cobs, take the kernels off a cob and set aside for garnish, add the cob to the pot.

Step 2 Ingredients

• 1 large onion, any kind, rough chop.
• 1 stock celery, roughly chopped.
• 2 medium carrots, roughly chopped.
• Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste

Step 3 Garnishes

• 3-4 corn torillas cut into 1/2″ strips
• 1 cup Cotija cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
• corn kernals
• sour cream or thick Greek yogurt
• 2 limes cut into wedges

Method

1. Put Step 1 ingredients in a large stock put. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and let simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Remove chicken and shred it, cover with tinfoil and keep it warm.
3. Strain stock into a bowl to remove aromatics. Set aside. Keep one or two of the chilis aside to blend in at the end.
4. Add olive oil to the stock put.
5. Over medium heat, sauté the onions (sprinkle with a little salt to draw the water out).
6. Once onions are translucent, add 2 Tbps tomato paste, stir and let it carmelize a bit.
7. Then, add the carrots and celery, keep stirring (make sure it doesn’t burn).
8. Next, add your strained stock to deglaze the pan.
9. Bring to a simmer and let simmer at least 20 minutes (or until the veggies are soft – you’re going to be blending it).
10. During the 20 minutes, taste and adjust seasonings.
11. Add back one of the reserved Guajillo chilis (or more if you like it hot) and blend with a stick blender (or regular blender if you don’t have one, but cool the mix a bit before you try pouring it into a blender).
12. Blend until smooth.
13. Adjust Season to taste (note: it does need quite a bit of salt).
14. Simmer to reduce to get a thicker soup base (it’s up to you how much).
15. Add reserved shredded chicken back to the soup and heat through.

Prep garnishes:

1. Place corn tortillas strips on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment and bake in the oven at 350F convection- 15 minutes or until crispy. Remove and cool.
2. Crumble Cotija cheese into a bowl.
3. Place cilantro leaves in bowl.
4. Place lime wedges into a bowl.

Ladle soup into bowls and let people build their soup to taste,  finishing with a squeeze of fresh lime juice. Enjoy!

Serve 4-6.