Tortilla Flat

the last soup of season

We all knew this day would come: the final installment in our Soup Season Series. Reading all y’alls comments and questions has made this particular series that much more special. So thank you to everyone who’s been cooking along with the newsletter each week. All your feedback, substitutions, and replies help make this feel so much more like a community of friends who just can’t seem to get together IRL. Without this lil recipe club, it’d just be all of us alone in our kitchens with no clue what to make for dinner. Y’all make this is much better so thank you.

omw to the grocery store figuring out what the fuck to cook

This week’s recipe is the result of indecision. I wanted to wrap the series out with a bang but couldn’t decide on the direction for this week’s soup. My heart wanted a chili, but my head wanted something a bit more artful, something a little more unexpected. I found a can of hominy taking up entirely too much real estate in my pantry and a pack of corn tortillas in my fridge that had seen better days. And from those humble beginnings this week’s loaded tortilla soup recipe was born.

Our first cookbook has a silky, pureed tortilla soup but sometimes I’m in the mood for a version with a little more substance. This version has the familiar flavor of the cookbook recipe but some crucial upgrades: fire roasted tomatoes for a long-simmered flavor, black beans, hominy and sweet potato for more heft and protein, and a quick cabbage slaw on top to tie everything together. This really feels lightyears away from your typical tortilla soup, somewhere between chili, pozole, and vegetable soup which sounds like a delicious place to land. Topping it all off with some crushed tortilla chips and avocado slices makes the whole bowl feel less virtuous and thus more craveable to any vegetablephobic people in your life. If you’re stuck in the dinner doldrums and don’t know what to make, this soup is always bound to please.

Loaded Tortilla Soup

Enough for 6 people

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 sweet onion, chopped

2 bell peppers, red, yellow, or orange, chopped

1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped

1 jalapeno, chopped

1 tablespoon chile powder blend

1 tablespoon oregano

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or soy sauce

5 cloves of garlic, minced

One 15 ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes or standard diced tomatoes

6 cups vegetable broth

6 corn tortillas, cut into bite-sized strips

1 ½ cups cooked black beans or one 15 ounce can, drained and rinsed

1 ½ cups cooked hominy or one 15 ounce can, drained and rinsed*

Handful of chopped cilantro, about ¼ cup

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoons maple syrup

Salt and pepper to taste

Toppings: fresh avocado, tortilla chips, sliced jalapenos

Quick Cabbage Slaw

3 cups of thinly sliced cabbage

¼ cup chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

2 teaspoons olive oil

Pinch of salt

Warm up the olive oil in a large soup pot over a medium high heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and sauté it around until the onion starts to brown in some spots, about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook for another 5 minutes, until everything is soft and browning all over. Fold in the jalapeno, sweet potato, chile powder, oregano, and cumin, and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, making sure to break up any big chunks, and cook until it starts to caramelize and mix with the browned veggies bits sticking to the pot, another 3 minutes. Drizzle in the Braggs, stir, then add the garlic and can of tomatoes. Use the juice from the tomatoes to scrape off any burned bits stuck to the pot. That’s the good shit that makes homemade soup so much better than store-bought, so don’t let all that flavor go to waste.

Once you’ve done a decent job with that, pour in the veggie broth and add all but one of the sliced tortillas to the pot. Let all of that come to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low. Now we wait. Let the pot slowly simmer along like this for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tortillas have dissolved, and the sweet potato is tender. Now you have a choice: leave the soup as is or stick an immersion blender in there and puree a little bit of it so you have a velvety broth. We opted for the immersion option but if you like more chunks that’s great too. Totally up to you.

After you’ve blended, or not, add in the black beans, hominy, and cilantro. Stir that all up and fold in the nutritional yeast, lime juice, maple syrup, salt, and pepper. Let all those flavors simmer together for 5 more minutes then taste and add more of whatever you think is missing. Turn off the heat and add the last sliced tortilla to the soup. Leaving this out until the end allows for a few visible tortilla pieces to end up in the soup. Better safe than sorry. Now throw together the slaw.

In a small bowl, mix together the cabbage, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, and salt until everything is combined. Done.

To serve the soup, scoop a bunch into individual bowls, top with a pile of slaw, sliced avocado, and some crushed tortilla chips.

*can’t find hominy? you can always sub in fresh or frozen corn kernels in a pinch

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Thanks so much for joining us here in The Broiler Room. Next week we’ll start sharing some romantic recipes perfect for date night, for even the laziest among us. See y’all then!

Michelle (and Matt)