Chef Lupita
Carnero Verde Conventual
Puebla's convent mutton stew, green with cilantro, yerbabuena and chile poblano, slow-simmered with chayote, elote and ejotes in the patient discipline of the refectorio kitchen.
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Sopa de Almendras de Santa Rosa
Created by
Puebla's Santa Rosa almond soup, built from blanched almonds, fried bolillo, saffron, jitomate, chile poblano, and clear chicken broth, a convent dish made for feast days, not a hurried Tuesday pot.
Soups & Stews
Mexican
Special Occasion
Christmas
Holiday
35 min
Active Time
1 hr 10 min cook•1 hr 45 min total
Yield6 servings
Puebla, inside the convent kitchen of Santa Rosa, is where this soup belongs. Not the street market Puebla of cemitas and chalupas, the enclosed Puebla of Dominicas, recetarios, high windows, and a refectorio where food had to feed the body and obey the calendar.
The almond is the authority here. Almendras de Castilla came from the Old World, but the nuns did not leave them Spanish. They thickened chicken broth with fried bolillo, stained it lightly with jitomate, perfumed it with saffron, and let a few rajas of chile poblano remind you where the pot was sitting. This is criollo cooking: not copied, not improvised, made Mexican by repetition in a Pueblan kitchen.
I learned a version of this from a señora in Puebla who kept her aunt's convent notes folded inside a prayer book. She told me to strain the almond base twice because the portera would have sent it back if it scratched the throat. She was right. A soup this quiet exposes lazy hands. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Do not call this a spicy soup. Not all Mexican food is built on heat. This one is built on patience, almonds, saffron, bread, and broth. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and Puebla's convent table knew exactly what it was doing.
Sopa de almendras belongs to the criollo-conventual tradition of Puebla, especially the Dominican kitchens associated with the Convento de Santa Rosa, where Old World almonds, saffron, wheat bread, cinnamon, cloves, and sherry were worked into New Spain's local pantry of jitomate and chile poblano. Manuscript traditions such as the 1773 Regina Coeli recetario, the Quaderno de cosas curiosas de cocina, the Libro de cocina del hermano fray Geronimo de San Pelayo, and records preserved in Cocina y Vida Conventual at the Biblioteca Angelopolitana de Puebla show how convent kitchens standardized dishes through measurement, fasting rules, and daily refectorio service. This soup carries Arab-Andalusian almond thickening into a Pueblan Catholic feast table, which is why it appears naturally at Christmas and other special meals.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
almendras de Castilla
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
blanched and peeled
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
3 tablespoons
day-old bolillo or telera
Quantity
1
torn into pieces
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
peeled
jitomates
Quantity
2 medium
roasted and peeled
fresh chile poblano
Quantity
1 small
roasted, peeled, seeded, and cut into thin rajas
clear chicken broth
Quantity
5 cups
preferably from a whole chicken simmered with onion and salt
saffron threads
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
lightly toasted and crushed
Mexican cinnamon
Quantity
1 small piece, about 2 inches
whole cloves
Quantity
2
dry sherry
Quantity
1/4 cup
kosher salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
freshly ground white pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
sliced almonds (optional)
Quantity
1/4 cup
toasted, for serving
small cubes of fried bolillo (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| almendras de Castillablanched and peeled | 1 1/2 cups |
| manteca de cerdo | 3 tablespoons |
| day-old bolillo or teleratorn into pieces | 1 |
| white onionchopped | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovespeeled | 2 |
| jitomatesroasted and peeled | 2 medium |
| fresh chile poblanoroasted, peeled, seeded, and cut into thin rajas | 1 small |
| clear chicken brothpreferably from a whole chicken simmered with onion and salt | 5 cups |
| saffron threadslightly toasted and crushed | 1/4 teaspoon |
| Mexican cinnamon | 1 small piece, about 2 inches |
| whole cloves | 2 |
| dry sherry | 1/4 cup |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground white pepper | 1/4 teaspoon |
| sliced almonds (optional)toasted, for serving | 1/4 cup |
| small cubes of fried bolillo (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4-quart cazuela de barro or thick-bottomed pot
- •Comal for roasting jitomate and chile poblano
- •High-powered blender
- •Fine-mesh colador
- •Talavera poblana soup bowls
Instructions
- 1
Peel the almonds
Cover the almendras de Castilla with boiling water and let them sit for 2 minutes. Drain, rinse with cool water, and slip off the skins one by one. Yes, one by one. The skins make the soup gray and slightly bitter. The convent kitchen cared about that, and so should you.
- 2
Fry the bread
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a heavy cazuela over medium heat. Add the torn bolillo and fry until the edges turn golden and crisp. Remove a small handful for garnish if you want cubes on top. Leave the rest for the soup. The bread gives the broth body without making it heavy.
- 3
Soften the aromatics
Add the chopped onion and garlic to the same cazuela. Cook slowly until the onion turns translucent and smells sweet, about 5 minutes. Do not brown the garlic. This soup is pale and disciplined, not a chile stew trying to shout over the table.
- 4
Blend the base
Transfer the fried bread, onion, garlic, peeled almonds, roasted jitomates, and 2 cups of chicken broth to a blender. Blend longer than you think, at least 2 full minutes, until the mixture is completely smooth. If the blender complains, add another splash of broth. You want almond cream, not gritty paste.
Pasar por colador is not decoration. Strain the blended base through a fine-mesh colador and press hard with a spoon. The soup should feel smooth on the tongue. - 5
Cook the almond puree
Return the strained almond base to the cazuela. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for 8 to 10 minutes. It will thicken and lose the raw almond smell. Keep the spoon moving across the bottom because almonds catch quickly. No me vengas con atajos.
- 6
Add broth and spice
Whisk in the remaining chicken broth little by little so the almond base loosens without clumping. Add the crushed saffron, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and white pepper. Simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring often. The color should be ivory with a faint gold edge from the saffron and jitomate.
- 7
Finish with sherry
Remove the cinnamon and cloves. Stir in the dry sherry and simmer 5 minutes more. Taste for salt. The soup should be savory first, with almond sweetness underneath, not a dessert. If it tastes flat, it needs salt, not more saffron.
- 8
Serve in Talavera
Ladle the soup into warm Talavera poblana bowls. Lay a few rajas of roasted chile poblano on each serving and scatter toasted sliced almonds and fried bolillo cubes over the surface. Serve immediately in the refectorio spirit: generous, orderly, and without unnecessary garnish. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Buy whole almonds and peel them yourself. Pre-sliced almonds are dry and tired. A convent cook would notice, and so will the soup.
- •The broth must be clear and clean. Simmer a whole chicken with white onion and salt, skim it well, and strain it. A cloudy broth makes a muddy almond soup.
- •Use chile poblano only as rajas on top or folded in at the end. Do not blend it into the base. The soup belongs to the almond and saffron, not to green chile.
- •Dry sherry is correct here because this is a conventual criollo dish. If you cook without alcohol, leave it out. Do not replace it with sweet wine.
- •If you cannot find saffron, you may omit it, but say what it is: a compromise. Turmeric gives color, not the same fragrance. Don't pretend otherwise.
Advance Preparation
- •The chicken broth can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Lift off the chilled fat before using so the soup stays clean.
- •The almonds can be blanched and peeled 1 day ahead. Keep them covered in the refrigerator so they do not dry out.
- •The finished soup is best the day it is made, but it can be refrigerated overnight. Reheat over low heat while stirring, adding a little broth if it thickens too much.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 335g)
Calories
445 calories
Total Fat
31 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
23 g
Cholesterol
14 mg
Sodium
790 mg
Total Carbohydrates
27 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
16 g
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