Recipes

Mixed Vegetable Soup

Mixed Vegetable Soup

Sopa de Verduras Maria M. Merrill, a cooking instructor in San Miguel de Allende, made this soup for our last (mid-day meal) from the vegetables left from a week of cooking classes. The recipe evolved as she cooked the soup. If you don’t have all the ingredients, follow Maria’s lead and make use of the vegetables on hand.
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Equipment

  • medium saucepan

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive oil
  • 1 medium white onion coarsely chopped
  • 1 rib celery cut crosswise in 1⁄2-inch pieces
  • 2 medium carrots peeled and cut in 1⁄2-inch pieces
  • ¼ head of cabbage coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • ¼ cup canned tomato sauce
  • 1 14 1⁄2-ounce can fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 medium zucchini cut in 1⁄2-inch pieces
  • ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, and cook the onion and celery over medium heat until barely softened, about 4 minutes.
  • Add all of the remaining ingredients except the zucchini and salt.
  • Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 8 minutes.
  • Add the zucchini and cook, partially covered, until the zucchini is tender, but not mushy, 6 to 8 minutes.
  • Add salt.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot.
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Course; Soup / Vegetables
Cuisine; Mexican

Squash Blossom Soup

Squash Blossom Soup

Sopa de Flor de Calabaza
Squash blossoms are used a great deal in Mexican cooking. The delicate blossoms are stuffed and fried, chopped and added to and omelets, and featured in this light popular soup. In the United States, squash blossoms, in season, can be found in farmers' markets or specialty produce markets.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • Prepare chicken stock, if using homemade.
  • Then, remove the stems and pistils from the squash blossoms.
  • Rinse blossoms and shake off excess water.
  • Coarsely chop the blossoms and reserve.
  • In a large saucepan, heat the oil and butter.
  • Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
  • Add the zucchini, garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.
  • Cook, stirring, until the zucchini is crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.
  • Add the remaining ingredients, including the chicken stock, and heat through completely, 3 to 4 minutes.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot.
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Course; Soup
Cuisine; Mexican

Corn, Squash Blossom, and Zucchini Soup

Corn, Squash Blossom, and Zucchini Soup

Sopa de Elote, Flor de Calabasa, y Calabacitas
Daily markets in Mexico, with beautiful produce piled high and beckoning, are truly inspirational. With Mexico's long growing season, this garden-fresh soup made with some of the stars of the market, can be made just about anytime there, but for us in the United States it is usually just a summer delight, so make the most of seasonal bounty. For a final sparkle, add a squeeze of fresh lime juice at the table.
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Equipment

  • large saucepan

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic until softened, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the remaining ingredients, except the lime wedges, and cook until the vegetables are tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
  • Serve hot with lime wedges.
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Course; Soup / Vegetables
Cuisine; Mexican

Zucchini, Corn, and Green Chile Soup

Zucchini, Corn, and Green Chile Soup

Sopa de Calabacitas, Elote, y Chile Verde
This light and simple soup calls for canned, peeled, and diced green chiles, which are often used by home cooks in Mexico. They are readily available in supermarkets in the United States, too.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 3 cups Basic Chicken Stock or canned fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or olive oil
  • ½ cup chopped white onion
  • 3 medium zucchini ¾ pound, cut into 1⁄2-inch dice
  • 1 cup fresh corn kernels from one large ear
  • 1 4-ounce can peeled and diced green chiles
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

  • Prepare the chicken stock, if using homemade.
  • Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan, and cook the onion over medium heat until softened, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the broth, zucchini, corn, chopped chiles, cumin, and salt.
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the zucchini is tender, about to 6 to 8 minutes.
  • Serve with lime wedges.
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Course; Soup / Vegetables
Cuisine; Mexican

Corn, Onion, and Jalapeño Soup

Corn, Onion, and Jalapeño Soup

Sopa de Elote, Cebolla, y Jalapeño
Quick to make and soul-restoring soups are just right for busy days. A small unassuming restaurant in the city of Puebla served a simple light soup very much like this one. It proves that just a few ingredients are all you need to produce something wonderful.
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Equipment

  • medium saucepan

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil or a combination
  • 1 small white onion coarsely chopped
  • 2 141⁄2-ounce cans fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1½ cups fresh from about 2 medium ears or frozen corn kernels
  • 3 large fresh jalapeño chiles seeded, veins removed, and cut into small squares or thin strips
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste

Instructions

  • In a medium saucepan, heat the butter or oil, and cook the onion, stirring until the onion begins to brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the remaining ingredients except the salt, and cook 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Add salt and serve hot.
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Course; Soup
Cuisine; Mexican

Catfish Soup

Catfish Soup

Caldo Michi
Catfish is harvested from the rivers and lakes in the state of Jalisco. Much of it goes into catfish soup, offered at almost every market food stall and at restaurants throughout the region. This version comes from Guadalajara. I use fresh, farm-raised catfish, available in most United States fish markets.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion, stirring frequently, until it begins to brown, about 4 minutes.
  • Add the garlic and tomatoes.
  • Cook, stirring, until the tomato juices are reduced, 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the broth, carrots, celery, serrano chiles, bay leaves, oregano, and thyme.
  • Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 12 to 14 minutes.
  • Remove the serrano chiles and bay leaves from the soup.
  • Add the fish, cilantro, and salt.
  • Cook until the fish is opaque inside, 6 to 8 minutes.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve the soup hot with lime wedges.
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Course; Fish / Soup
Cuisine; Mexican

Oyster Soup

Oyster Soup

Sopa de Ostiones
A bowl of rich, steaming oyster soup is made in many seafood specialty restaurants along both coasts of Mexic
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Equipment

  • Saucepan 3-quart

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 medium white onion finely chopped
  • 1 rib celery finely chopped
  • 1 medium garlic clove minced
  • 1 141⁄2-ounce can fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 2 cups heavy cream or half and half
  • 1 8-ounce jar fresh shucked small oysters
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

  • In a 3-quart saucepan, melt the butter and cook the onion, celery, and garlic over medium-low heat, covered, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the broth, salt, and red pepper.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Cover, reduce heat and simmer 8 minutes.
  • Add the cream and oysters with the liquid.
  • Heat until hot and steaming, but do not boil.
  • Stir in the cilantro.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot.
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Course; Fish / Soup
Cuisine; Mexican

Seven Seas Soup

Seven Seas Soup

Seven Seas Soup
Caldo de Siete MaresTwo to three times each year, Dorothy and Frank Davis, my sister and her husband, drive from their home in northern California to their second home on Mexico's Baja peninsula. They have favorite food stops along the way in Mexico, often eating Seven Seas Soup, and gave me this version from Ensenada's port-side restaurants, where it appears on most menus.The kind of fresh seafood varies according to what's available, as long as the total is seven (but who's counting?). Home cooks can make their own fish stock or use chicken broth as a base for the soup. Serve as a main dish with crusty rolls and squeeze the fresh lime juice into the soup just before eating.
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Ingredients

Makes 6 to 8 servings

  • 8 cups Basic Fish Stock or canned chicken broth
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 large white onion chopped
  • 4 large garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes, puréed in a blender
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1½ teaspoons dried oregano Mexican variety preferred, crumbled
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 24 small clams scrubbed and rinsed
  • ¾ pound 12 to 15 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1 pound skinless boneless fish fillets 4 different kinds—such as halibut, snapper, cod, mahimahi—cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 8 sea scallops cut into quarters
  • ½ cup loosely packed chopped fresh cilantro
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

  • Prepare the fish stock, if making homemade.
  • Then, in a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat and cook the onion, partially covered, stirring frequently, until tender, about 6 to 8 minutes.
  • Add the garlic, broth, tomatoes, wine, oregano, cumin, salt, and crushed pepper.
  • Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 20 minutes to blend the flavors.
  • Add the clams to the soup.
  • Cover the pot and cook until the shells open, about 8 minutes.
  • Discard any that do not open.
  • Add the shrimp, fish pieces, and scallops.
  • Simmer until the seafood is just cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Stir in the cilantro.
  • Adjust seasoning.
  • Serve with lime wedges.
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Course; Fish / Soup
Cuisine; Mexican

Coastal Seafood Soup

Coastal Seafood Soup

Caldo de Mariscos
Seafood soups are popular all along Mexico's extensive coastlines, and they contain whatever fish comes from the region. This tasty soup is from Acapulco. Maggi is a popular and common seasoning concentrate frequently used by Mexican cooks throughout the country. It is widely available in supermarkets in the United States. Or you can substitute Worcestershire, which Mexicans call English sauce.
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Ingredients

Makes 8 servings

Instructions

  • Peel the shrimp and reserve the shells in a medium nonreactive saucepan.
  • Devein the shrimp, and cut each shrimp crosswise into thirds.
  • Put the cleaned shrimp into a bowl, cover and refrigerate.
  • To the pan with the shrimp shells, add the scallions, celery, carrot, parsley, oregano, bay leaf, wine, salt, and 2½ cups of water.
  • Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat.
  • Reduce the heat to low, and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.
  • Pour the broth through a strainer placed over a medium bowl, pressing on solids to extract all the juices.
  • Discard the solids.
  • Set the broth aside.
  • In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.
  • Add the onion and garlic.
  • Cook, over medium heat, stirring, until the onion begins to brown, 3 to 4 minutes.
  • Add the tomatoes and Maggi.
  • Cook, stirring frequently, until the tomato juices have cooked away, 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the potatoes, jalapeño, chicken broth, and the reserved shrimp broth.
  • Partially cover, and cook over medium-low until the potatoes are tender, 6 to 8 minutes.
  • Add the fish and shrimp.
  • Cook until the fish is opaque, and the shrimp are pink and curled, 3 to 4 minutes.
  • Add the salt and pepper.
  • Serve the soup sprinkled with cilantro.
  • Pass lime wedges at the table.
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Course; Fish / Soup
Cuisine; Mexican

Shrimp in Red Chile Broth

Shrimp in Red Chile Broth

Chilpachole de Camarón
Lake Catemaco, south of Veracruz on the Gulf coast, was our destination with our bird expert friends, Dix and Didi Boring. We were visiting the Tropical Ecological Zone (Los Tuxlas), to view toucans, parrots, and other jungle wonders.The nature preserve is well off the beaten path, so after a wonderful day and two trips along muddy, rutted roads in the back of a pick-up truck, I was revived and rewarded with this most delicious and messy soup (with unpeeled shrimp), at La Luna, a simple restaurant bordering the lake. The soup is also found all along the coast of Veracruz. My version of the soup calls for peeling the shrimp before serving, for more delicate eating. The lime juice adds a refreshing, tangy touch to finish the soup.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • Put the shrimp in a large saucepan with 4 cups water, 2 slices of the onion, 2 of the garlic cloves, and ½ teaspoon of the salt.
  • Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer until the shrimp are pink and curled, 5 to 6 minutes.
  • With a slotted spoon, remove the shrimp and save the stock.
  • Cool the shrimp under cold running water.
  • Remove the shells and put the shells back into the stock.
  • Devein the shrimp and refrigerate in a covered bowl.
  • Boil the shrimp stock 10 minutes, uncovered, to reduce and intensify the flavor.
  • Pour the stock through a strainer, pressing on the solids to extract all the liquid.
  • Discard the pulp and shells.
  • Reserve the stock in the pan.
  • Soak the toasted and seeded chiles in a bowl of hot water 20 minutes.
  • Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet and fry the tortilla quarters until crisp and golden brown on both sides.
  • Transfer to a blender.
  • In the same skillet, cook the remaining onion slices until translucent, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the rest of the garlic and cook, stirring, one more minute.
  • Transfer to the blender.
  • In the same skillet, cook the tomatoes on both sides until soft and the skins are charred with black spots.
  • Transfer to the blender.
  • Drain the chiles and add them to the blender.
  • Add 1 cup of the chicken broth.
  • Blend as smoothly as possible.
  • Pour the mixture through a strainer into the reserved shrimp stock.
  • Add the remaining chicken broth and epazote.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Reduce the heat to low and simmer 10 minutes to blend the flavors.
  • Add the reserved shrimp.
  • Simmer 5 minutes.
  • Adjust seasoning.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot with lime wedges.
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Course; Broth / Fish
Cuisine; Mexican