Tortilla Soup

May 5, 2006 — -- Looking for a good way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Try Wolfgang Puck's delicious recipe below.

Tortilla Soup

(Recipe courtesy Wolfgang Puck, "Pizza, Pasta & More!," Random House, 2000)

Yield: Makes 3 quarts

Ingredients

2 ears of fresh corn, husks removed

4 or 5 large garlic cloves, peeled

1 small onion (about 3 ounces), peeled, trimmed and quartered

1 small jalapeño pepper, trimmed and seeded

2 tablespoons corn oil

2 corn tortillas, cut into 1-inch squares

2 large ripe tomatoes (1 pound), peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 to 3 teaspoons ground cumin

2 quarts chicken stock

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Garnish:

2 corn tortillas

1 ripe avocado

1 large chicken breast, cooked, boned, and skinned

½ cup grated Cheddar cheese

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Using a large knife, carefully scrape the kernels off the corn cobs and set aside, reserving the cobs.

Using a food processor fitted with the steel blade, or a large knife, coarsely chop the garlic, onion, jalapeño pepper and corn kernels. Reserve.

In a large soup pot, heat the oil. Add the squares of tortillas and cook over low heat until they are slightly crisp. Stir in the chopped vegetables and simmer just until the vegetables are coated with the oil. Do not brown.

Add the tomatoes, the tomato paste and 2 teaspoons of the cumin and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes to maximize the flavor. Slowly pour in the stock, add the corn cobs and cook over low heat until the soup is reduced by one third.

Discard the corn cobs and puree the soup, in batches, in a blender or food processor until smooth. At this point, the soup can be passed through the fine strainer if desired.