Tortilla Soup	Tortilla Soup

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Tortilla Soup

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 6, 2000

Yield: 12 to 15 servings

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Ingredients

For broth:

• 10 cups water

• 1/4 cup chicken-flavored soup base (see notes)

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1 1/2 tsp dried whole-leaf oregano

• 1 1/2 tsp dried sweet basil leaves

• Chipotle puree, to taste (see notes)

• 1/2 tsp ground white pepper

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 (15-oz) can tomato sauce

For fixings:

• 1 roast chicken, shredded

• 1 large red onion, cut into fine strips

• 3 tomatoes, peeled and cut into fine strips

• Shredded Monterey Jack cheese

• Corn tortillas, cut into 2 to 3 inch long strips, fried crisp (see notes)

• Fresh cilantro, finely chopped

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Preparation

To prepare broth, combine water, soup base, lemon juice, oregano, basil, about 1 tablespoon chipotle puree, white pepper, bay leaves and tomato sauce in a large stockpot.

Bring to a boil. Let simmer for 15 minutes or longer. Taste broth; if desired, add more chipotle puree a little at a time until broth reaches desired spiciness. Remove and discard bay leaves. Broth will be very thin; the fixings add flavor and texture.

The broth will keep, covered and refrigerated, for three days.

To serve, fill bottoms of individual bowls with servings of shredded chicken, red onion and tomato. Ladle hot broth over top.

Sprinkle each serving with shredded cheese, tortilla strips and chopped cilantro.

Notes: Chicken-flavored soup base is a product similar to bouillon. You can find it in the soup aisle of many supermarkets.

Chipotle puree can be made from canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, a product sold at specialty markets and some supermarkets. To make chipotle puree, remove any stems. Puree a few chipotle peppers at a time, as needed, in a blender or food processor. You can adjust the spiciness of this soup by adjusting the amount of chipotle puree.

Ramon's makes its tortillas from scratch, cuts them into strips and cooks them briefly in a deep fryer. You could simply buy tortilla chips.