As I’ve said before — when in doubt make soup. In any language.
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It’s not immediately obvious why an oil company would have its own publishing house. Ortho Books is part of Ortho which is the agricultural chemicals division of Chevron. I suppose they started from gardening/ landscaping books (saturated in Ortho fertilizers) then expanded to home repair/ home improvement, and to cookbooks. In all these genres they competed with California’s great home and garden publisher, Sunset Magazine (now pretty much killed by its newest owner).
Like Chevron I’m NorCal based, so I have several of their books on my shelves. I bought Adventures in Mexican Cooking in the early 1980s; these are real Mexican recipes, not the delicious but different Texas or California or New Mexico offshoots.
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The soups most often found in Mexican restaurants are Tortilla soup and Albondigas (meatball). Tortilla soup is chicken noodle with crisp-fried tortilla strips instead of noodles and plenty of cilantro. It’s good; Albondigas is special. The mint makes this very distinctive.
Sopa de Albondigas (Meatball Soup)
from Adventures in Mexican Cooking — serves 6 to 8
Meatballs
1 pound lean ground beef
½ small onion, minced
2 tablespoons bread crumbs
1 tablespoon fresh mint, minced (or 1 teaspoon crumbled dried mint)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons uncooked rice
¼ cup tomato sauce
Mix all the ingredients except the tomato sauce, which should be added last, using only enough to make the mixture moist, but firm enough to hold together as balls.
Form small meatballs. Moisten your hands frequently with cold water to prevent the meat from sticking.
Broth
½ small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon bell pepper, minced
1 tablespoon oil
½ cup tomato sauce
6 cups beef or chicken or vegetable stock or water
½ teaspoon salt or to taste
diced vegetables such as carrots, celery, zucchini (optional)
cilantro
salsa
Heat oil in a soup pot. Saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper until they are soft. Add the stock or water, tomato sauce and salt, and bring to a hard boil.
Add the meatballs, slowly so the boiling does not stop. If water is used the meatballs will form an adequate stock of their own as they cook.
Add the diced vegetables as desired. Lower heat to simmer. Cover and cook about 25 minutes. Serve garnished with cilantro and hot salsa.
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This diary was inspired by ninkasi23’s mention of what she calls “pasotto” (pasta-risotto). I read that and thought “that’s a sopa seca”.
Sopa Seca de Fideo (“Dry Noodle Soup”)
from Adventures in Mexican Cooking — serves 4 to 6
8 ounces coiled vermicelli, broken, or similar thin pasta or alphabets
3 tablespoons oil
½ small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon chopped bell pepper
1 tomato, peeled and chopped, or 3 ounces tomato sauce
2 cups beef or chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese (optional)
sour cream (optional)
Bring the stock to a boil in a saucepan.
Break the vermicelli in short lengths, then brown in hot oil in a soup pot or large skillet. It is more delicate than rice; do not burn. Drain excess oil.
Push the vermicelli to one side, add onion, garlic, bell pepper and cook until onion is soft. Add tomato and mix all together with the vermicelli.
Add the boiling stock and season to taste. Cover and cook over very low heat until the liquid is almost completely absorbed.
Serve with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese or a dab of sour cream.
Alternate: use 6 to 7 cups stock for a normal “liquid” soup.
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What’s for dinner at your place? Please consider telling us about it in a future WFD; message ninkasi23 to get on the schedule.