Sopa Queretana de Tortilla y Aguacate

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or clay comal for roasting tomatoes and chiles
• •Heavy 4-quart clay cazuela or stockpot for the broth
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Spider or slotted spoon for frying tortilla strips

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the broth

   Put the chicken pieces in a heavy pot with the cold water, half of the onion, 2 garlic cloves, bay leaf, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat and skim the gray foam during the first 10 minutes. Cook 35 to 40 minutes, until the broth tastes like chicken and the meat on the bones has given up its strength. Strain. You need 6 cups of broth; reduce it if you have more, add hot water and salt carefully if you have less.

   Good broth is the spine of this soup. Boxed broth is a compromise, not an upgrade. If you use it, buy unsalted broth and simmer it 15 minutes with onion, garlic, and epazote before you continue.
2. 2

   Dry the tortillas

   Spread the tortilla strips on a tray while the broth simmers. If the tortillas are fresh and still flexible, put them in a 300F oven for 8 to 10 minutes to dry the surface. Day-old tortillas fry clean. Fresh tortillas drink fat and turn leathery. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Roast the base

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Roast the tomatoes cut side down with the onion quarter and 2 garlic cloves until the tomatoes slump and the onion has dark spots. Toast the chile guajillo separately, 10 to 15 seconds per side, just until the skin becomes fragrant and flexible. Cover the toasted guajillos with hot water and soak 15 minutes. Do not toast the pasilla rings here; they fry later.

   Chile guajillo is mild. It gives color and a red fruit flavor. If you want fire, you are cooking another soup.
4. 4

   Blend and strain

   Drain the soaked guajillos. Blend them with the roasted tomatoes, roasted onion, roasted garlic, and 1 cup of the chicken broth until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing firmly on the solids. The skins of dried chiles do not belong in a clean broth. This is how you get a soup that tastes polished without turning it into restaurant nonsense.

5. 5

   Fry the tortillas

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide skillet over medium heat. When one tortilla strip sizzles immediately, fry the strips in batches until golden and rigid, about 90 seconds per batch. Lift them out with a spider or slotted spoon and drain on paper towels or a rack. Fry the pasilla rings in the same lard for 5 to 8 seconds, just until glossy and aromatic, then remove them fast. Pasilla burns while you are congratulating yourself.

   The lard should be clean enough to use for the soup base after frying. If black crumbs collect in the pan, strain the lard before the next step.
6. 6

   Fry the guajillo base

   Leave 2 tablespoons of the tortilla-scented lard in the pot. Add the strained guajillo-tomato puree. It will sputter. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the color deepens to brick red and the fat starts to gather at the edges. Add the remaining 5 cups chicken broth and the epazote sprig. Simmer 15 minutes. Taste for salt and remove the epazote.

   Do not add xoconostle to this pot. Xoconostle gives acidity to other Bajío caldos, especially caldo de zorra. Sopa queretana is mild and rounded.
7. 7

   Prepare the toppings

   Dice the avocado only when the soup is ready. Crumble the queso ranchero with your fingers. Stir the crema until smooth; if it is too thick to spoon, loosen it with a tablespoon of warm broth. Cut the limes and pick over the cilantro leaves. The toppings are not decoration. They are the second half of the dish.

8. 8

   Serve in barro

   Put a handful of fried tortilla strips in each deep barro bowl. Ladle the hot broth over them. Add diced avocado, queso ranchero, a spoonful of crema, fried pasilla rings, and cilantro. Serve lime on the side and keep extra tortilla strips at the table so each bowl has some strips that soften and some that stay crisp. That contrast is part of sopa queretana. Así se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy tortillas from a tortillería that smells like nixtamal, not preservatives. In Querétaro's Mercado de La Cruz, the women selling queso ranchero will point you to the good tortillas if you ask plainly. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
• •Use manteca de cerdo for frying the tortillas and cooking the guajillo base. Vegetable oil will function, but it will not taste like the Bajío kitchen this soup comes from. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
• •This soup is mild. Chile guajillo gives color and fruit, chile pasilla gives aroma and a controlled bitterness. Do not turn the pot into a chile de árbol contest.
• •Xoconostle, cacahuazintle, and chilcuague are not decorative vocabulary. Xoconostle belongs to acidic Bajío caldos like caldo de zorra; cacahuazintle belongs to pozole; chilcuague belongs to Sierra Gorda salsas and some moles de conejo. Respect the border between dishes.
• •The Bajío has its own register. León's cocineras know lard and dairy, Querétaro crowns this soup with queso ranchero, San Luis Potosí knows xoconostle and enchiladas potosinas, and Aguascalientes does borrego al vapor through the night. Not all mole is Oaxacan or Poblano. Not all birria belongs to Jalisco. This is a 32-state cuisine.
• •If you can find aguacate criollo, use it. The skin is thin, the flesh is rich, and the flavor is more direct than the supermarket avocado. If the market only has Hass, choose one that yields gently at the stem and dice it at the last minute.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken broth can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Lift off any solidified fat only if there is too much; a little chicken fat gives the soup body.
• •The guajillo-tomato base can be blended and strained 1 day ahead. Fry it in lard only when you are ready to finish the soup.
• •The tortilla strips can be fried up to 4 hours ahead. Keep them at room temperature, loosely covered. Do not refrigerate them unless you enjoy sad tortillas.
• •Avocado, queso ranchero, crema, pasilla rings, cilantro, and lime should be prepared close to serving. The bowl depends on fresh toppings.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)