We’ve had some really intense wind storms around these parts lately. I live near the Columbia River Gorge, which is a beautiful area with large hills on either side of a huge river. It has wonderful hiking trails and is green and lush at all times of the year, but it also acts as a giant wind funnel that brings pummeling winds over from eastern Oregon to the western part where I live. The temperature has also dropped down to wintery levels, making for an especially cold start to winter. Every time I open the door I’m blasted with a gust of icy air, which basically makes me want to stay inside my warm house with my bathrobe on all the time. This is generally unpleasant, except for the fact that’s ideal soup weather, and that the slight spicy kick to this tortilla soup recipe heats me up in more ways than just the temperature of the broth.

I’ve been busy shooting for food clients preparing for the holiday season (my kitchen looks like a series of tornados have come through it, leaving behind sprinkles, cookies, and sea salt—I’m very lucky I have the dogs to be little vacuums for all the crumbs I’m leaving on the floor). Even though I am cooking all day, often times what I’m making does not equate to dinner (i.e. cocktails, thumbprint cookies, and cheesy bread do not a dinner make), so I wanted to make something quick, easy and healthy for dinner. I’ve stuck with my steadfast proclivity for hot wintery foods and have made this tortilla soup multiple times in the past few weeks.

It’s made up of hominy, crushed tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, radishes, toasted tortilla chips, and all sorts of other goodness. If you’re unfamiliar with hominy, it’s a staple of all stewed Mexican dishes, tortilla soup included. While the name sounds a little reminiscent of innards, they’re actually just big corn kernels (not scary at all!) and they have the most wonderful soft and chewy texture. It gives you a little something meaty to bite down on in this vegetarian soup, and adds the most wonderful southwestern flavor to the broth. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I’ve been, and if you’re on the look out for more hot soups, I highly recommend giving my Hungarian mushroom soup or pumpkin soup recipes a go!

Tortilla Soup

Servings 2 servings

Author Eva Kosmas Flores

Ingredients

1 15 ounce can white hominy
1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes, or 2 cup diced fresh tomatoes
2 large radishes thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 avocado
1 medium yellow onion diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried ancho chile powder
1/4 teaspoon dried chipotle chile powder
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Quarter the lime. Stack the tortillas; cut in half, then into ½-inch-wide strips. Peel and small dice the onion. Peel and mince the garlic. Drain and rinse the hominy. Pit, peel and medium dice the avocado; toss withthe juice of 1 lime wedge to prevent browning. Trim off and discard the stem ends of the radishes; very thinly slice the radishes into rounds. Crumble the queso fresco. Pick the cilantro leaves off the stems; discard the stems and thinly slice the leaves.
Place the tortilla strips on a sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper; toss to thoroughly coat. Arrange in a single, even layer and bake, stirring halfway through, 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; immediately season with salt.
While the tortilla strips bake, in a medium pot, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the onion, garlic and spice blend; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 3 to 5 minutes, or until softened and fragrant.
To the pot of aromatics, add the crushed tomatoes, hominy and 2 cups of water; season with salt and pepper. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes, or until thickened and slightly reduced in volume. Turn off the heat and stir in the juice of the remaining lime wedges; season with salt and pepper to taste.
Place some of the baked tortilla strips, avocado, radishes and queso fresco in 2 bowls. Divide the broth between the bowls. Top with the remaining baked tortilla strips, avocado, radishes and queso fresco. Garnish with the cilantro. I hope you enjoy this recipe for tortilla soup as much as I did!

Discussion

Miranda says:

I love most kind of soups, and I'm pretty sure this one would go down a treat with me!! LOvely images, as always!
http://bloglairdutemps.blogspot.pt/

Lauren Barry says:

Love these shots, look so dramatic and really capture the warming feel of the soup!
Lx
Elle Bloggs

Lisa Conner says:

These are beautiful Eva, and looks delicious, I'm making this tonight for sure!!!

thejameskitchen says:

Wonderful soup, exactly the right kind for our murky weather. I'll might replace the hominy with sweetcorn or beans, since hominy got the 'nice, but please do not make it again' – comment – love the photos.
Nicole

Amy says:

Looks great, slow cooked, with authentic flavors. Great comfort food.

Madeline Hall says:

Tortilla Soup is one of my favorite things to eat of all time! I always make my own tortilla strip too and go overboard with toppings. Sounds delicious!

http://madelinemarieblog.com/

Ksenia @ At the Immigrant’s Table says:

That soup looks great! Especially the hominy beans. I'm glad you found the time to actually sit down to a real meal 🙂

Beshared says:

Again an amazing coocking display and the photoshoot style is amazing well done!

Mindy says:

I love me some soup. We had split pea with a ham bone from the freezer tonight. Mmmmm.

Evie Campbell says:

It looks very tasty, but I wonder if it's spicy?

Ingrid – let’s talk evergreen says:

I love soups and stews during the colder times of the year. I can imagine it's a busy time for you. How do you manage to style each and every recipe just as pretty? I sometimes have a hard time finding the inspiration to do multiple recipe shoots on one day. xo