I Thought of Something!

And of course it's food-related. I thought I would share a recipe with you lovelies---kitchen-tested, moi approved.

It's for a soup---and a cold one at that. I loooove soup, but up until making this one, I had been pretty stand-offish to cold or chilled soups. This particular soup just sounded so refreshing and besides, it's too effin' oppressive outside for a hot soup right now.

I got this recipe from the cookbook, Super Natural Cooking. The woman who wrote it, Heidi Swanson, also has a popular food blog yall may have heard of called 101 Cookbooks (look to the right of the page). I originally planned to provide a direct link to the recipe on her blog, but it's been pulled due to changes she made (the book has this newest version, as noted on her blog). SO, here it is below---


Crema de Guacamole (with Crunchy Topopos)

12 small tomatillos
3 serrano chiles, seeded and chopped
1 white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more as needed
1/2 tsp. fine-grain salt
4 large ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
1/2 cup loosely packed chopped cilantro
1/2 lime
Crema, fresh salsa, and chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

Crunchy Topopos
1/4 cup clarified butter*
12 corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
Fine-grain sea salt
1/2 lime


Remove husks and stems from tomatillos. Rinse well, coarsely chop, and put in soup pot along with serranos, onions, garlic, and stock. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then immediately lower and simmer for 5 minutes, or until tomatillos start losing their structure.

Puree thoroughly with a handheld immersion blender (I'm sure a food processor does the trick, just watch out for that hot liquid!). Push the puree through a strainer and into a bowl to remove the tomatillo seeds and skins. Cool for 30 minutes, the stir in the lime juice. Refrigerate until completely chilled---a minimum of 2 hours.

To make the topopos---heat butter in a heavy skillet until hot but not smoking. Put a small handful of the tortilla strips into the skillet in a single layer. Note: it's very important not to overcrowd the skillet because the tortilla strips will steam rather than brown. Toss occasionally with tongs or a spatula until golden brown, usually 2-3 minutes. Tranfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and immediately toss with salt and a squeeze of lime juice. Repeat.
The topopos can be stored in a plastic bag.

In a separate bowl, blend the avocados thoroughly with the cilantro, salt, and a big squeeze of lime juice, then blend into the chilled soup base. Adjust the salt and lime as needed---you should be able to smell and taste the lime, but it shouldn't be mouth-puckering. Top each bowl with a swirl of crema, a spoonful of salsa, and a sprinkling of topopos, and a pinch of cilantro (As mentioned, optional, but the crema is definitely a nice touch!).


*Maybe some of yall already know making clarified butter aint no thang, but here's how to do it JIC---

Gently heat unsalted butter (just however much you need for a recipe, or if you want to make extra for future cooking, then a couple of sticks) in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. It will separate into 3 layers---a top layer of foam, a bottom layer of milk solids, and the clarified butter will float in between those 2 layers. Skim the foamy layer off with a spoon and discard. Next, carefully pour the golden middle layer into a jar or bowl, leaving the milk solids at the bottom. Discard the milk solids as well. Voila!!!

-K