It’s Been Awhile Since We’ve Seen Soup!

Monday morning the mailman dropped off a brand new issue of Vegetarian Times just as I sat down to figure out a weeks worth of menus.  I decided that was providence and flipped through the issue, looking for something to inspire me.  Sure enough, there was a section on avocados, and despite the fact that it was very sticky and muggy out, the Mexican Rice Soup just sounded refreshing and exactly what I was in the mood for.  Over the last week I feel like I’ve been eating heavier, and I decided that this week, my meal selections would be lighter and vegetable dense to kind of kind of undo the heaviness I was feeling.  What intrigued me most about this soup was that it seemed simple and basic, but that it really was the garnishes that were the stars.  A simple broth is made, and then tortilla strips, avocado, onions, cilantro and a squirt of lime top it all off.  The garnish alone sounded good!  Even better, all I needed to make this soup was the cilantro and a lime and I was in business.

I started with the very simple broth- basically taking onion, garlic, oregano and lime zest and simmering them in veggie broth to add some body and flavor.  These are strained out, leaving you with a light broth with no chunks.  Next, a 1/4 cup of rice went in, and a few minutes later, some diced tomato and corn joined it.  Voila, the broth was done.  I tasted it, and was pleasantly surprised.  The lime zest in the broth really added something- but not too much of “that something”.  It was nice, but to be completely honest, not a wow either.

I finished the soup up, chopping all my garnishes before ladling myself a big bowl of soup.  I looked at the pot, looked at my bowl, looked at the magazine, and then back at the pot.  There is absolutely no way this soup as written serves 6.  No way.  Four would be pushing it- mine was three servings, and not a drop more.

The garnish looked fantastic on the top, actually, and I kind of mucked it all up before taking a bite, and it was exactly what I had been craving.  Let me tell you right off the bat to use a touch more avocado than called for- you want some in each and every bite, because that’s what made this soup sing.  But in addition to that, the tortilla strips kind of melded into the soup, but didn’t dissolve and come apart, so they were more like fun tortilla noodles.  I don’t think you could leave off a single item of the garnish and have a successful soup- they just all worked so well together with the light broth, tomatoes, corn and rice.  It was delicious.  The next day, I also assembled a bowl for my lunch, only this time, I had a small yellow tomatillo on the counter and I thought it would be fun to dice that up and add it to the garnish.  That was even better! The sweet-tangy crunch of the tomatillo added something completely new,and I think were I to make this soup again, I would make a little salsa fresca of the avocado, onion, cilantro, and tomatillo.

So would I make this again?  I don’t know.  I have to tell you, the broth itself was nothing special at all.  I think you could get away with simply using a well-flavored veggie broth and save yourself a few steps. But more importantly, this soup, while delicious, was not satisfying.  I ate my full bowl, felt full, but an hour later I was hungry again, and that totally defeated the point.  Plus, keep in mind, I followed the soup as writted and ended up with about 3 servings instead of the six originally called for.  Were I to make it again, it would be as a part of a larger meal- maybe with a quesadilla or a burrito of some kind. OR I would bulk it up a bit by using brown rice instead of plain, and maybe adding some black beans.  Then again, it was delicious, and I enjoyed it just as much for lunch as dinner, so that has to say something.

Mexican Rice Soup

from Vegetarian Times, Sept. 2008
Broth:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 small onion finely chopped (3/4 cup)
2 cloves garlic minced (2 tsp)
3 cups low sodium veggie broth
1 Tbs grated lime zest
1 tsp dried oregano
Soup:
1/4 cup short grain rice
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced (1 cup)
1/3 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
1 8 inch flour tortilla
1 avocado diced (1 cup)
2 green onions thinly sliced (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
6 lime wedges
hot sauce for garnish, optional

To make broth:
Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, saute 5-7 minutes or until softened. Stir in garlic and saute 1 minute or more. Add veggie broth, cover and reduce heat to medium low, simmer 10 minutes. Strain broth, discard solids, return to saucepan.

To make soup:
Add rice to broth, bring to a simmer over medium low heat, cover and simmer for 15 min or until rice is soft. Stir in tomatoes and corn, season with salt and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350ºF.  Spray tortilla with cooking spray, cut into thin strips. Arrange on baking sheet and bake 5-7 min or until crisp.  (Alternately, I simply tossed my strips in a dry non-stick skillet to brown- worked fine, and saved me from having to turn on the oven.)

Place diced avocado, green onions, cilantro, lime wedges, and tortilla strips in small bowls.  Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with avocado, tortilla strips, green onions, cilantro, lime wedges and hot sauce, if desired.

Serves 6.