Jen's Tortilla Soup

This soup is a lot of work to prepare, but well worth it. It started out as a Williams-Sonoma recipe but after the first time I made it I changed it a bit every time. Now it bears little resemblance to the original recipe! Exact measurements are not necessary, as you keep adding things until you like the flavor--in fact, the best thing about this soup is that the flavor of the food itself is all you use! Increase the amount of chicken broth for a bigger party.

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 small white onion (chopped coarsely)
• 4-6 ripe tomatoes (chopped coarsely)
• 6 cups (48 fl. oz.) chicken stock or broth
• 2-4 cilantro sprigs
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn
• salt (if desired)
• black pepper (if desired)
• lime juice
• 6-8 corn tortillas, torn into small pieces
• 2 pasilla (pablano) chili peppers, chopped with seeds removed
• 2 ripe avocados
• 1-2 cups crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1-2 fresh limes
• tortilla chips

Preparation

1. Heat a dry frying pan and char the onions and tomatoes. Add the pressed garlic when the onions and tomatoes are mostly blackened. 
2. Put some of the chicken broth into a food processor and add onions, tomatoes, and garlic. (Try to get as much of the blackened stuff as possible--it adds a lot of flavor!) Process until smooth. It may take several separate steps to process all of the ingredients. Pour into a stockpot on low heat.
3. Using more of the broth, process the cilantro, corn, and peppers. Add to the mixture in the stockpot.
4. Process the corn tortillas with additional broth. Add to the mixture in the stockpot.
5. Add salt, black pepper, and lime juice to taste. Let simmer up to an hour if possible, the longer the better!
6. The soup should have a smooth, thick consistency, which can be thinned with more broth or thickened with more tortillas.
7. Serve in shallow bowls and offer the sour cream, lime wedges, feta, tortilla chips, and sliced avocado wedges in separate bowls on the side.