Sometimes, things, people, the world, just conspire to suck. (If only my vacuum cleaner would join in that conspiracy. It, alas, does not suck. Bad pun. I know. Deal).
That’s where I am right now. Suck suck suck, suckity suck, suck.
It’s ok. It’ll get better. Im getting busy, re-learning French, working on a Fulbright application, working on short stories, working on a syllabus (ok, that part isn’t making it any better…gr…. who wants to do work. Except for that getting paid part)
Tonight is just a slump. Despite the fact that I spent the afternoon at the Carolina Moonshine Festival. Which actually, was great. I toured a still, had some moonshine, ate a quality fried fish sandwich, heard some music. Great. Great. Great.
But Sunday nights suck. They just suck.
So, to make it suck less, I made some Tortilla Soup. Which, every time I make it, I think of the time Momma accidentally burned herself (ouch, real bad) and my friend’s grandmother, the wonderful Gan, brought over some tortilla soup. Which was great, but only half as great as Gan’s southern pronunciation of tortilla. She has one of the greatest accents I’ve ever heard.
So I made some tonight. Easy.
1. Get your cast iron skillet. Throw in a pepper (I used jalapeno, pablano might be good, too), and two cloves of garlic. Do not peel! Roast for 15 minutes, until your garlic looks brown and your pepper has one of those big black bruises on its side.
2. Peel the garlic, chop the top off the pepper, and put them in a food processer. Pulse. Then, add a can of whole tomatoes, drain, and puree for like, five seconds.
3. Thinly slice half an onion, throw it in your soup pot, and brown on medium high. Then, add the tomato mixture. Let that get thick for about five minutes.
4. Add three cups of chicken broth or stock. Simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, you are making your own chips. You could buy them from the store, but you, my friend, are a beast, and you are making your own, in the same cast iron skillet, with the same oil from when you roasted the garlic. They will be wonderful, and unless you are my father, who is on a low sodium diet and would love to tell you about it, you can add salt.
6. After your soup gets done simmering, season with a teaspoon or two of salt (though, if you are Fife Whiteside, you won’t add any. Sorry dad).
7. Just before you serve, bring the soup to a boil, throw in your chips, and boil for about 3 or so minutes.
8. Serve with queso fresco or monteray jack, sour cream if you’re a fatty like me, cilantro, and, if you are still working on last week’s rotisserie chicken, that too.
That looks delicious. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about most Mexican restaurants, it’s that their soup options are a half-step up from fajita-seasoning-flavored hot water. You should teach them a thing or two and become an in-house chef at El Carreton. I’m sure they would affix you with a cool nickname that you could then tattoo on your arm.
Haaaaaa – very true! Now, I’m going to spend all day figuring out what my El Carreton nickname should be. Unfortunately, my spanish is limited to “El Zapata” (the shoe) and “Arroz Con Pollo.” I don’t think either one of those would be fitting nicknames….
You could go the Mary Louise-Parker from “Weeds” route and just be “La Blanca” and sell illicit substances on the side to escape your suburban nightmare. However, I think there’s a lot of promise with El Pegaso, or “the pegasus.” They’ll be mystified and fear your culinary skills.
…
Honestly, “the pegasus” was the first dumb thing I could think of. Thank goodness for online English-to-Spanish translators.