Recipes

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

Shrimp in Green Broth

Shrimp in Green Broth

Huatape de Camarón
Huatape is a basic soup from the Gulf coast state of Tamaulipas, where the long coastline provides an abundance of shellfish and a great variety of fish.The traditional broth for is red, made from ancho chiles and tomatoes. The delicious green broth for this modern version is made from blending tomatillos, lettuce leaves, epazote, onion, corn tortillas, and green chiles. Water is often used to dilute the broth, but I prefer to use half chicken broth and half water. The corn tortillas dissolve to add body and extra flavor to the broth. After the broth simmers to a rich brew, the shrimp is cooked in the broth. Serve the soup with crusty rolls to dip into the broth.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 to 6 servings

  • Green Chile Strips
  • ⅓ pound tomatillos husked, rinsed, and quartered
  • 3 romaine lettuce leaves large green outside leaves, rinsed and torn into pieces
  • 12 fresh epazote leaves or ¾ teaspoon dried epazote
  • ½ cup lightly packed fresh cilantro sprigs
  • ½ medium white onion coarsely chopped
  • 2 serrano chiles sliced crosswise with seeds
  • ½ teaspoon dried oregano Mexican variety preferred, crumbled
  • 2 corn tortillas torn into small pieces
  • 1 141⁄2-ounce can fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1 pound 18 to 22 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Instructions

  • Prepare the chile strips.
  • Reserve.
  • Then, put the tomatillos, lettuce, epazote, cilantro, onion, chiles, oregano, tortilla, and ½ cup of the chicken broth into a blender and purée as finely as possible, about 1 minute.
  • In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat, and pour in the puréed mixture.
  • Bring to a boil, then cover, and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens, about 10 minutes.
  • Add the remaining chicken broth, water, and salt.
  • Bring to a boil, stirring, then cover, and cook over medium-low heat 10 to 15 minutes until the ingredients are well cooked and the flavors are blended.
  • Add the shrimp and cook, uncovered, until the shrimp are pink and curled, 4 to 5 minutes.
  • Add the green chile strips.
  • Cook 1 minute.
  • Adjust salt.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot in soup bowls.
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Course; Broth / Fish
Cuisine; Mexican

Shrimp and Hominy Soup

Shrimp and Hominy Soup

Pozole de Camarón
The creative dishes I've tasted at Chapuline Restaurant in Oaxaca are a continuing inspiration. I especially like the chef's flavorful shrimp soup that is a blending of old and new: or dried corn with the hull removed, and shrimp are cooked in a lighter broth than in the usual stew-like (a dish named after the main ingredient). Fresh epazote can be difficult to find, so substitute cilantro for fresh herb flavor, even though the taste is different.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

  • 2 cups Basic Chicken Stock or canned broth
  • ¾ pound 14 to 17 medium shrimp, in the shell
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 ancho chiles stemmed, seeded, veins removed, and cut into pieces
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ medium white onion chopped
  • 2 medium garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 2 medium tomatoes peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano Mexican variety preferred, crumbled
  • ½ teaspoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh epazote leaves or fresh chopped cilantro
  • 1 15-ounce can white or yellow hominy, drained and rinsed
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1 large avocado Hass variety preferred, thinly sliced
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

  • Prepare the chicken stock, if using homemade.
  • Then, peel the shrimp and devein.
  • Reserve the shrimp in a bowl and put the shrimp shells in a medium saucepan with the chicken broth, water, and ancho chiles.
  • Bring to a boil; then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 5 minutes.
  • Remove from the heat and reserve the broth in the pan.
  • Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan and cook the onion until softened, about 3 minutes.
  • Add the garlic and cook 1 more minute.
  • Add the tomatoes, oregano, and cumin.
  • Cook until the juices are reduced and the mixture is nearly dry.
  • Pour the reserved broth through a mesh strainer directly into the soup pot, pushing to extract all the juices.
  • Discard the solids.
  • Add the reserved shrimp, epazote, hominy, and salt to the pot.
  • Bring to a boil; then reduce the heat and simmer the soup until the shrimp are cooked, about 8 minutes.
  • Divide the soup among 4 soup bowls.
  • Add sliced avocado to each bowl.

Notes & Wine Advice

Serve hot, with lime wedges on the side.
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Course; Fish / Soup
Cuisine; Mexican

Shrimp Tortilla Soup

Shrimp Tortilla Soup

Sopa de Tortilla con Camarónes
In the state of Veracruz on the east coast of Mexico, I enjoyed so many seafood dishes that I was constantly taking notes on things to try at home, like this shrimp soup. The soup is lowfat but satisfying enough to make a meal. The crisp tortilla strips are pushed into the soup as it's eaten.
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Ingredients

Makes 4 to 6 servings

  • 4 corn tortillas cut into thin strips, about ¼ inch wide
  • 2 poblano chiles roasted and peeled
  • ¾ pound 12 to 15 large shrimp
  • 3 scallions cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 parsley sprig
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano Mexican variety preferred, crumbled
  • ½ cup dry white wine
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 medium white onion quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
  • 4 medium garlic cloves finely chopped
  • 2 large tomatoes peeled and finely chopped, or 1 cup canned
  • 1 141⁄2-ounce can fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 cup fresh from about 1 ear or frozen corn kernels
  • Lime wedges

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°.
  • Put the tortilla strips on a large baking sheet in one layer.
  • Toast until light brown and crisp, 10 to 12 minutes.
  • Reserve.
  • Prepare the chiles.
  • Then cut them into strips and reserve.
  • Peel the shrimp, and put the shells in a medium nonreactive saucepan.
  • Devein the shrimp and cut each one crosswise into thirds.
  • Cover and refrigerate.
  • To the pan with the shrimp shells, add scallions, parsley, oregano, wine, salt, and 2 cups of water.
  • Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat.
  • Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer the shells 15 minutes.
  • Pour the broth through a strainer into a bowl, pressing on the solids to extract the juices.
  • Discard solids.
  • Set broth aside.
  • In a large saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat.
  • Cook the onion and garlic, stirring, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
  • Add the tomatoes, raise heat to high and cook, stirring, until the mixture is nearly dry, about 4 minutes.
  • Add the reserved shrimp broth, chicken broth, chile strips, corn, and the shrimp.
  • Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the shrimp are pink, about 3 minutes.
  • Divide the soup among 4 soup bowls, and place a generous stack of tortilla strips on top of each serving.
  • Pass lime wedges at the table.
  • Serve at once.
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Course; Fish / Soup / Tortilla
Cuisine; Mexican

Tripe Soup

Tripe Soup

Menudo
This legendary soup is said to remedy hangovers. True or not, it's popularity rises on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and especially on New Year's Day. Mexican restaurants and markets post signs declaring its availability, to cater to the demand. is the common name given to Mexican tripe soups, which are made from the lining of beef stomach, but the soup is also called (little stomach) in some parts of Mexico. Tripe is easy to find in most meat markets, and honeycomb tripe is the most tender and flavorful. This soup really does taste better than it sounds if you are unfamiliar with tripe—so don't wait until you have a hangover to try it!
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Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

Instructions

  • Cut the drained tripe into 1⁄2-inch squares, and put in a medium pan with water to cover.
  • Bring to a boil; then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
  • Drain through a colander and rinse with cold water.
  • Return the tripe to the pan.
  • Add 8 cups of water, the chili powder, salt, oregano, and garlic.
  • Bring to a boil; then reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered, 1 hour.
  • Add the pork to the soup.
  • Cook until the pork is very tender, about 1½ hours.
  • Remove the meat to a plate.
  • When cool enough to handle, shred the meat, and discard fat and bones.
  • Return the shredded meat to the soup.
  • Add the hominy, onion, and crushed pepper.
  • Cook about 15 minutes to blend the flavors.
  • Serve hot, sprinkled with green onion and cilantro.
  • Pass lime wedges at the table.
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Course; Soup
Cuisine; Mexican