Tortilla Soup - This is THE one!

By SallySmo

I've been trying for some time to replicate Houston's recipe for Tortilla Soup that they serve every Wednesday. I think this might be as close as I'm going to get.

Ingredients

• Toppings:
• 3-4 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
• 6 corn tortillas, chopped in roughly 1" squares
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 3 bay leaves
• 6 C chicken stock
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Chicken from one Rotisserie Baked chicken, rough chop
• 3 Tbsp fresh cilantro
• Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
• Sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1-2 avocados, sliced
• Fresh cilantro
• Corn tortillas, sliced into 1/2" strips and fried crisp

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add chopped tortillas, garlic and onion. Saute 2-3 minutes. Add cumin and chili powder. Saute additional minute to bring out the flavor of the spices (and make the house smell good). Add bay leaves and chicken stock and pepper. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt if necessary depending on saltiness of stock.

While soup simmers it's a good time to fry the tortillas for garnish. Preheat 1/2-3/4 cups of vegetable oil in a small skillet. Cut tortillas in strips. When oil is hot enough to bubble when tortillas hit the oil, put in enough strips to cover the bottom. Strips are done when they start to turn a golden brown color. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and repeat process with remaining strips.

Remove and discard bay leaves. Using an immersion blender, pulse to blend but don't completely puree. You're doing this to thicken the soup but you still want to be able to identify some bits of onion.

Stir in chicken pieces. Simmer for 30 minutes then add 3 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro and heat for another 5 minutes before serving.

Garnish soup with shredded cheeses, avocado and tortilla strips.