Experiment 8 - Tortilla Soup - The Results

Ingredients list here.

A little background that I usually put in the selection post, but was too rushed to do yesterday.  As almost always, this was an undated clipping from the same old newspaper.  Let's just assume that from now on, if there's something different, I'll mention it.  Also, I think I actually made this recipe once, or something quite similar.  If I did, the specific memories are lost to the mists of time.

I took a lot of liberties with this one.  Aside from halving the recipe as I often do, I chose to use flour tortillas, because I already had some in the house.  I also went with canned tomatoes instead of fresh, because of the winter tomato factor, and lack of interest in peeling.  The particular can I chose at the store had jalapeno in it, so that was another item I didn't have to buy.  And finally, I passed on the fresh cilantro.  Way back on experiment 0, I'd overdone the cilantro a bit, and besides, to get the fresh stuff, you have to buy a large bunch and then it just goes to waste.  Besides I had some dried stuff in my spice cabinet.

I was pleased as punch when my local Kroger finally resolved my "medium onion" conundrum.

The prep was super simple.  I used a pizza cutter to quarter two tortillas (remember, I was halving everything), chopped up the onion in my mini-chopper, and placed a clove of garlic in the press.  I used my Dutch oven, which I don't get to use very much.  Fried up the tortilla quarters in the oil until they were crisp, then added the onion and garlic and cooked until the onion was softened.  Then in went the stock, the tomatoes and peppers and the cumin.  Brought it all to a boil

then simmered for at least half an hour.  I added a small bit of salt and pepper, as recommended in the recipe.  In the meantime I cut up an avocado (I think diced avocado calls for a less ripe fruit then I am used to buying.)  Since the flour tortillas I used are larger on average than a corn tortilla, I pulled two quarters out after the initial frying and cut those up for garnish.  I also had some chicken and cheese available.

Verdict:  Om nom nom nom.  This one is a keeper.  I might try it again following the instructions a tad more closely, but I have no complaints about it as I made it.

Sorry for the shaky photos.  I was trying to shoot without flash on most of them and obviously that didn't work out as well as I'd have liked.

Lessons Learned - Using some substitutions is OK, and will not prevent my from making the same thing another time.
Tools needed - nothing new this week.  Happy for a chance to use my Dutch oven, and I think I was clever to use the pizza cutter to cut up the tortillas.
Skills needed - nothing new this week.