Tortilla Soup

Alright, I know this has become more of a running blog, but, there is way more I'd love to share with you all other than running. As an athlete, and I am sure most you can agree with me, I love to eat. When you eat as much as an ultra runner, you need to find ways to keep it interesting. Luckily, I have a lot of patience and do not mind cooking myself great meals, even if they are just for 2 or sometimes 1.

I first had this soup at a friends house a few months ago. The recipe comes from an amazing vegan cook-book called Rebar, a restaurant based out of Victoria, B.C. As neither of the couples that night are Vegan, they added chicken to the soup. I did it a little different and added shrimp instead. Although I enjoyed both variations, i find the shrimp a little bit easier, as you simply just add it to the soup at the end.



Tortilla Soup w/ avocado, corn, and asiago

Serves 8 (you can cut the recipe in 1/2 to serve 4, but if you make a lot, you can freeze it for a rainy day!)

8 cups vegetable stock (I have used chicken and it tasted great)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 yellow onions, finely diced
1 tbsp salt
10 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp minced oregano
4 jalepeno peppers, seeded and minced
3 cups corn kernals, fresh or frozen (I used canned)
2 large red peppers, seeded and finely diced
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke (I didn't use this but if you have it, go for it)
2 tsp chipotle puree
*** Puree contents of 1 7oz (198g) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce. Now, I was a bit lazy and just added some hot chili sauce, which gave it a nice kick)
4 corn tortilla's, yellow or blue (make sure you get real CORN tortilla's)
2 avacado's, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, stemmed
asiago cheese, shaved with a potato peeler (I grated aged white cheddar instead, as I had it in the fridge)
1 lime, cut into thin wedges
*** Prawns, peeled (optional)

1. Heat the stock and keep it warm on the back burner while preparing the soup. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat oil, over medium heat. Add onion and 1 tsp salt and saute until translucent. Stir in garlic, oregano, half of the minced jalapenos and another 1 tsp salt; saute 5 minutes.

2. Pour the hot stock into the pot and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer 20 minutes. In the final 5 minutes, stir in the corn, red peppers, remaining jalapenos, the remaining salt, liquid smoke, and chipotle puree. Simmer until the corn is tender. Meanwhile, prepare the garnishes and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. ***If you want to add prawns, do this at the very end, until cooked.

3. To make tortilla strips, slice each tortilla into long strips 1/4" thick. Toss gently with a light coating of oil, a pinch of salt and chile powder (optional). Spread the strips out on a baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree F oven until crisp (5 minutes). Remove from the oven and let cool until ready to serve.

4. To serve, ladle the broth into bowls and divide the diced avocado, cilantro leaves, asiago shavings among the servings. Arrange 8 tortilla strips in a teepee in the center of each bowl. Serve immediately with a bowl of lime wedges on the side.

I hope you have as much as I did making this soup and even more fun eating it. It really is yummy and it was hard to say no to seconds (which I didn't of course!).

Now, go running and get cookin'!