Tortilla soup (or keeping it spicy)

Recipe: Tortilla soup with all the trimmings

Fall is a perfect excuse for a hot provocative soup. Sunny days, raking leaves, dry chilly evenings, maybe a fire in the chiminea and a little candlelight. Soup, and especially soup with complexity and a spicy kick, sounds real good. It sounds warm and cuddly. It sounds like Life. Mmmmm.

Rick Bayless' book Mexican Everyday is an essential cookbook in any kitchen, in my opinion. It contains one of the best recipes for Tortilla Soup I've ever found. It's easy to make and, best of all, doesn't involve searching for too many unfamiliar ingredients. Here's an adaptation especially sized for two. You're gonna love it!

Tortilla Soup with All the Trimmings

• 1 medium dried pasilla (also called negro) chile*, stemmed and seeded
• 1 cup diced tomatoes in juice (canned OK)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, sliced or chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1 sprig fresh epazote** (optional)
• Salt
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 ripe avocado, pitted, flesh scooped from the skin and cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 cup shredded melting cheese. Mexican cheeses are Chihuahua, quesadilla, or asadero. You can also use Monterey Jack, sharp cheddar, fontina, or even goat cheese (non-traditional but good).
• Tortilla chips, roughly broken up
• Lime wedges

*You can use other mild chiles, if you prefer. Ancho are good, or New Mexico. Smoky chipotle is good, but it will be more spicy. If you prefer to use a chile powder, use 1 tablespoon of it in place of the dried chiles and blend it with the tomatoes.
**Epazote is an herb common in Mexico, but not so easy to find here. It's easy to grow, though, and for that reason I have an epazote bush in my backyard. If you don't have it, don't worry. Your soup will be amazing anyway.

Toast the chile in a dry frying pan for a minute or two, or by holding an inch or two over and open flame. Break it into pieces and put it in a blender jar, along with the tomatoes and their juice.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onion and whole garlic and saute them until they are golden (6 or 7 minutes). Scoop them out with a slotted spoon, leaving as much oil as possible behind, and add them to the blender jar.

Process the ingredients in the blender jar until smooth.

In the same pan, heat the remaining oil over medium heat. When it is hot, add the puree from the blender and stir constantly until it is thickened to the consistency of tomato paste. This will take about 6 minutes. Add the broth and epazote, if using, stirring well.  Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and season with salt, usually about 1/2 teaspoon.

Just before serving, add the chicken to the simmering broth.

Divide the avocado, grated cheese, and tortilla chips between two soup plates. When the chicken is done (5 minutes) ladle the soup into the bowls (discard the epazote). Pass the lime separately to squeeze over the soup.

Hot tamale! It's a meal-in-a-bowl full of spicy love!
!Buen apetito!