Corn and Black Bean Tortilla Soup

I think I first discovered tortilla soup at the Wolfgang Puck Café in Chicago O'Hare, and it soon became my go-to during layovers in Terminal 3.  It's relatively light and refreshing after a long flight but still filling enough to be a full meal for me.  Of course, I always ask for extra tortilla strips because I like to add them a little bit at a time as I eat the soup so that there are always be some crunchy ones even towards the end. 

The only reason I haven't made this soup before is that I never had any corn tortillas on hand.  But after making the chilaquiles, I had some left over, so it was time to finally try it out.  I did some research on-line and cobbled together my own recipe with a lot of influence from The Pioneer Woman and Simply Recipes.

Corn and Black Bean Tortilla Soup
makes 4 servings

3-4 corn tortillas, preferably slightly stale and dry
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 onion
1 green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 can (14.5 oz.) of diced tomatoes with jalepenos
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 can (15.5 oz.) can black beans, drained
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 avocado
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 lime, quartered

Cut the tortillas in half and then into thin strips.  Heat oil in a large pot and fry the tortilla strips in batches until golden brown.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and lightly salt.

Dice the onion and add to the same pot, on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  Dice the green pepper and add to the pot.  Mince the garlic and add to the pot along with the cumin and adobo seasoning.  Mix well and cook for another minute.

Add the tomatoes and broth.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, leaving a few chunks if you like.  Taste the soup at this point and season accordingly.

Add the corn and black beans.  Mix the cornmeal with some water and add to the soup.  Stir and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Dice the avocado and distribute half among four soup bowls.  Add half the tortilla strips equally between the bowls.  Ladle in the soup and top with the rest of the avocado, tortilla strips, and shredded cheese.  Serve with a slice of lime.

You can also top the soup with sour cream, queso fresco, and cilantro.

Next:  Blueberry Buttermilk Mini Pies
Previously:  Serendipitous Chocolate Chip Cookies
Five Years Ago:  Kalbi (Korean Barbecue Short Ribs)

Easy Chilaquiles with Fried Egg and Avocado

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  Confession:  I don't really know anything about Cinco de Mayo except that it's the day after Star Wars Day and is Mexican in origin.  But that's enough for me to know that I can post about chilaquiles, the best thing I ate in Mexico.  I didn't really expect the breakfast buffet at the CasaMagna Marriott Cancun to have good local food, but this dish was so yummy I went back for thirds!

It doesn't look like much, which is maybe why I was so pleasantly surprised, but it's ridiculously loaded with flavor and texture.  Basically, it's just stale corn tortillas which are cut and fried, then cooked in salsa and topped with whatever you want.  Traditional toppings may include cilantro, cotija cheese, queso fresco, crema, and onions.  Since I think cilantro is the devil's weed and didn't have any of those cheeses, I used shredded Monterey Jack, chopped green onions, avocado, and a fried egg.  I chose to use jarred salsa instead of making my own sauce, which is why this is an "easy" recipe.  You can use pretty much use whatever salsa you want--spicy, mild, green, red--just choose your favorite one!

Easy Chilaquiles with Fried Egg and Avocado
makes 1 serving

6 small corn tortillas, stale or left out overnight
2 tablespoons corn or vegetable oil
Kosher salt
1/2 cup of your favorite salsa
1 egg
A handful of shredded Monterey Jack
Chopped green onion and/or cilantro
Chopped avocado

Stack the tortillas and cut into wedges.  Heat the oil in a pan on medium-high.  Cook the tortilla wedges in batches, flipping them over until both sides are golden brown.  Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels and lightly salt.  Once all the tortillas are fried, transfer most of the oil to another pan (in which you will fry the egg).

Add the salsa to first pan and heat on medium low.  Toss in the fried tortilla wedges until they are well coated.

While the chilaquiles is cooking, fry an egg in the other pan.  Once the egg is almost done, top the chilaquiles with the shredded cheese and chopped onions and/or cilantro.  Slide the fried egg on top and serve with chopped avocado.

If you're not a fan of runny egg yolks and prefer scrambled eggs, you can also beat the egg first and mix it in with the fried tortilla wedges when they are cooking in the salsa.  In fact, I think that's how they made them at the resort, but it's not nearly as photogenic.  =)

Next:  Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancakes
Previously:  Nutella Mini Crepe Cakes
Four Years Ago:  Passion Fruit Ice Cream
Five Years Ago:  Carrot Cake Ice Cream

Elote (Mexican Grilled Corn)

I tried elote for the first time a while ago at La Verdad, but I wasn't totally blown away. Then I tried it at Toro a couple of weeks ago, and wow, I couldn't get enough of it! (As an aside, I had always assumed that Toro was a Japanese sushi place because to me, toro = fatty bluefin tuna belly. So I was a little surprised to find out it was actually a tapas restaurant, where toro = Spanish for bull.)

A couple days later I was going to a bbq, so I decided to look up how to make it myself. What I came up with is an amalgam of what I found and a few adjustments to make the corn more similar to how I remember they made it at Toro. I chose to pre-cook the corn before grilling it so that I could ensure that the corn was cooked all the way through and also so that I wouldn't be hogging up time and space on the grill. I also added some raw garlic and the spices to the mayonnaise since I remember there was a garlicky taste in their sauce, which was pink. I found the cotija cheese, a mild, aged cheese, at Whole Foods, but if you can't find it, you can substitute either grated Parmesan or crumbled feta cheese.

Elote (Mexican Grilled Corn)
makes 12 servings

12 ears of corn
1 cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves
4 limes
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
Paprika
1 cup crumbled cotija cheese

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Place corn in husks directly on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes, or until corn is soft to the touch. After it has cooled, remove the silk and husks. If you like, you can break the ears in half.

Run the garlic cloves through a garlic press (or mince well) and add to the mayonnaise. Add the juice from half of a lime and quarter the rest of the limes. Mix in cayenne pepper, chili powder, and paprika to taste.

Grill the corn on a hot grill until lightly charred. Top with the mayonnaise sauce and crumbled cotija cheese. Sprinkle on more cayenne pepper and/or chili powder as desired, and serve with lime wedges.