Winter Mexican Warmer – Rustic Tortilla Soup

This is a great winter warmer in my house, great for lunch or dinner. A Jamie Oliver dish from his great cookbook Jamie’s America.

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He describes the dish as a ‘mexican inspiration’ and the flavours do all mingle together with punchy success. Its warming and fresh and zingy all at the same time.

My only addition to the dish is to add 100g of freshly roasted chicken breast or 150g of prawns per person after preparation to ensure you are getting a good protein kick along with the veggies.

If you are watching your carbs, simply remove the tortilla chips

If you are watching fats and use less avocado / tortilla and olive oil.

If you are short on time try freezing in batches and reheating for quick and easy midweek meals.

Get set (serves 4)

For the soup

  • olive oil
  • 400g roasted and sliced chicken breast
  • 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 green peppers, de-seeded and roughly chopped
  • 2 yellow pepper, de-seeded and roughly chopped
  • 2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 2 fresh bay leaves
  • 2 chicken stock cubes, preferably organic
  • 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the garnish

  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 1 lime
  • 1 fresh green chilli, finely sliced
  • 2 large handfuls of tortilla chips
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of dried sage

Go

  • Get a large pan on a low to medium heat and pour in a good lug of olive oil. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and peppers and fry gently for about 10 to 15 minutes until softened.
  • Add the chopped fresh tomatoes and bay leaves, crumble in the stock cubes and add the tinned tomatoes. Pour in about 2 tomato tins’ worth of water, then bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Preheat oven to 350°F. While the soup blips away, peel and stone avocado and dice into 1cm cubes. Put these on a plate, squeeze in the juice of a lime and grate the zest over the avocado. Place on the table net to a plate with the slices of chilli.
  • Lay tortilla chips on a baking sheet, drizzle with a good lug of olive oil and sprinkle the dried sage. Heat in the oven for a few minutes until warmed through. Meanwhile, check on the soup. If you like it looser, you can add a bit of water to it at this point; if you like your soups thicker, leave it to cook for a bit longer. You can mash the soup up a bit to make it more pulpy- season with salt and pepper