IT'S SOUP SZN
It’s mid-January and that means it’s SOUP SEASON! Whether it’s sunny, snowy, or rainy where you are, a bowl of soup is a welcome respite from the Winter blues, so we’ve got two super soups for you this week!
CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP
AU: My husband, Josh, loves a tortilla soup. When we go to our neighborhood Mexican restaurant—the legendary Casa Vega—we always order a combo platter. We both love the idea of having “a little bit of everything” from the menu on one blazing hot plate, covered by a blanket of broiled, brown-speckled, melted cheese. The combo platter also comes with a choice of either soup or a salad. Josh always gets the tortilla soup. Always.
What’s not to love? A rich chicken broth imbued with smokey, fruity chilies with succulent pieces of white meat and plenty of vegetables. Who wouldn’t want to eat that?! But I think the real party is on top of the tortilla soup: fried strips of corn tortillas, fresh hunks of ripe avocado, a smattering of creamy cheese that melts into the hot broth… the toppings create a perfect storm of flavors and textures.
So, being the doting husband that I am, I did some research to recreate this recipe at home. I found that the traditional method involves a combination of dried chilies. Dried chilies can be loosely categorized into two families: RED and DARK. Red usually means brighter flavor and more spice, dark ones tend to have a more complex, dried-fruit flavor. From the red family, most recipes included the sweet heat of a guajillo chili. From the dark family, most recipes included dried ancho chilies (or pasilla—they’re pretty interchangeable). Ancho chilies smell and taste like a lightly smokey raisin, and add a wonderfully deep depth of flavor to the dish.
The method, as with most dried chilies, is to toast them in a dry pan (this “wakes them up”), then blend them with a can of diced tomatoes. Many recipes require that you soak the toasted chilies in hot water before adding them to the blender, but I figured this was an unnecessary step, since they’re going in a soup. You then cook the puree in the soup pot until it goes from a loose orange-colored mixture to a deep brick red tomato-paste-like consistency.
The next step is to add your liquid (chicken broth) and anything else you want to add to the soup (i.e. vegetables). Most recipes called for epazote, a pungent, lemony-flavored herb that you can find in Latin markets. It’s ubiquitous in most of Mexico, Central, and South America. If you can’t find it, substitute with cilantro or parsley. I am not one who likes to cook a lot of separate components to create one final dish, so I decided I could get a twofer by poaching the chicken for my soup IN the soup. You’re cooking your chicken AND adding flavor to your broth. Shred the chicken or cube it after it’s cooked—all based on your own tortilla soup journey.
Now for the fun part—the toppings! I used crushed tortilla chips in lieu of fried tortilla strips, chunks of diced avocado (Josh’s favorite part), Chihuahua cheese (you can use Monterey Jack in a pinch), sliced radish for more crunch, and fresh cilantro. Don’t forget to squeeze a little lime over each bowl, at the table!
It was time for the moment of truth: will this homemade version be as good (or better?!) than the one at Casa Vega?? Will it taste different without the red leather booths and paper placemats? The future of my marriage hangs on a single sip of the chili-flecked broth…
Well… I GOT IT!! (read: Valerie Cherish). SUCCESS!! This is a crowd-pleasing soup that will warm you to your core on a cold Winter’s day. And washing it down with a margarita and a few baskets of chips and salsa ain’t so bad, either.
JOTA (SLOVENIAN CABBAGE SOUP)
EK: If you were reading W4D this Summer, you know that I spent a whirlwind week in Ljubljana, Slovenia. There were so many wonderful things that happened that week. I ate many, many delicious bites, but the one that I could not stop thinking about was completely unexpected. It was the Jota. Jota??!?! What is Jota? The rough translation for Jota is Cabbage Stew. It was so good that my friend and co-culinary ambassador, Bob Blumer, and I went to the restaurant “Jacob Franc” a second time just to have that Jota.
EK: Here is a photo from the second visit when we had dinner with the owner, Jakob Franc, who became a new friend and was a kindred culinary spirit. You can read more about him and the trip in the archives. If you compare the two pics above, you can see that my broth is a little redder in color, because I used a can of diced tomatoes instead of tomato paste. I am sure that Jakob used a lot of lardo in his version, since his entire restaurant was created around his special breed of Slovenian heritage pigs. I didn’t use any lardo; I sautéed the onions in olive oil and used a very lean country ham for the pork flavor. If you want more pork fat flavor, you should use bacon and you can always add some rendered bacon grease to my recipe.
Jota is a homestyle, home-cook kind of dish, which is one reason why Jakob didn’t have a recipe to share with me. This is not a fancy, Michelin-starred, refined kind of stew/soup, but it was remarkable in a warm, comforting way. After traveling for 24 hours and walking a mile to get to his restaurant, it was a magical first night meal. Just like a lot of things in life, I’ll never forget sitting outdoors on his lovely tree-lined terrace, eating this dish that was simple and soul satisfying.
AU: Listen, I gotta tell ya… I’m a little triggered. Let me explain: when I first moved to NYC, I rented an apartment with a roommate I found on Craig’s List. She boiled cabbage EVERY SINGLE DAY, and therefore, I have sworn off the stuff. However, I will say the addition of yummy pork fat intrigues me, and I will try it!
EK: You should! Now that I am back home and it’s January, I was inspired to make it because the “cabbage” in my version is really sauerkraut, which makes the soup both easy to make and doubles the health benefits.
AU: I have never been a fan of sauerkraut, either. But fermented foods like it are supposed to be so beneficial to your gut health!
EK: I know. I am a new fan of sauerkraut. In fact, I used to hate sauerkraut so much that I created an Apple-Fennel “Sauerkraut” for eating with smoked sausages and brats. But it’s so good for you! 1 cup of sauerkraut only has 27 calories! That means that the 4 cups of sauerkraut that you add to the soup is only 108 calories of sauerkraut for about 12 servings. And, it is fermented which makes it even better for you—full of probiotics, vitamins C and K, and minerals including iron and potassium. So, if I can find a way to get more sauerkraut into my life, I am all for it.
AU: What about that… how do I put this… cabbage stink?
EK: To remove some of the cruciferous vegetable sulfur smell, a.k.a. stinky rotten eggs, you want to rinse and drain the sauerkraut. I prefer to buy sauerkraut that is packed in glass jars. The German Kuhne “Barrel Sauerkraut” is cut fine and more delicate in flavor. It’s easy to find in most grocery stores. And I used my rice rinsing bowl to rinse the sauerkraut and it was easy and perfect.
EK: Making the soup takes a little time, but it is easy to make especially if you use a pressure cooker. Because Jakob told me that the Jota simmered on the stove all day, I decided to use a pressure cooker to save time.
It’s 3 steps, but they are mostly hands off:
You boil potatoes so you can add them later to add body to the soup. You want to cook them separately and mash them. Then add them, so that they dissolve into the broth to thicken it. I like a thinner broth, so I only used 1 cup of potatoes, but if you like a thicker “stew,” you could use more.
Sauté the onion, garlic and country ham or bacon. Add everything except the potatoes, beans and paprika, and pressure cook it for 7 minutes using a natural release (which takes about 15 minutes).
Add the mashed potatoes, beans, paprika, more stock and water and simmer on the slow cooker function for at least another hour.
The one “secret ingredient” that you don’t see in the photo is 2 tablespoons of Lipton Onion Soup Mix. If you are saying “What?!?!?” hear me out:
The home cooks of the “Goulash Belt”—I made that up, btw—use “cubes” to season and add flavor to their simple soups. Some are specific and prefer Knorr, some call for “veggie cubes” etc., They also use water instead of chicken stock, so they need something extra to flavor their soup. I keep Lipton Onion Soup Mix on hand to enhance simple soups and occasionally made that oh-so-bad, oh-so-good sour cream dip! Try it, you will be pleasantly surprised.
AU: Honey, it’s no secret that I L-O-V-E a Lipton Onion Soup “Recipe Secrets” Mix! No shame in this game!
EK: HA! If you’ve ever made any soup or stew in the pressure cooker, this will be easy peasy. This recipe also freezes very well. I portioned mine out into 2-cup containers and froze most of it for my own “frozen dinners” when I don’t feel like cooking. Some really good bread like from Wildgrain bread, butter, and this Jota is a perfect weekday W4D!!
Because this is a homey recipe, you will notice that there are many variations if you Google cabbage stew:
Beans - If you love beans, you could add another can. The Jota that I was trying to re-create only had a smattering of beans, but some recipes use equal parts sauerkraut and beans.
Smoked pork - You could use leftover smoked shoulder or rib meat, garlicky kielbasa (which Jakob told me they use in the winter), slab bacon, smoked bacon, any kind of ham or smoked turkey if you don’t like pork—and as much pork fat as you’d like to get it to glisten.
Tomato paste - Skip the diced tomatoes and add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste instead, or use 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and no tomato at all.
Veggies - If you are craving more vegetables, add them. Diced carrots are always good and thin slivers of red peppers would be great as well.
Add a drizzle of your favorite EVOO before serving.
If you make the soup or have any Slovenian experiences to add, let me know. I would love to hear them!
Na Zdravje!
—That’s basically cheers! in the Slovenian language
The pictures confirm, I LOVE tortilla soup--especially this one! And I’m excited to try Jota for the first time!