Southwest Salsa Soup

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Using a commercial salsa as a base for this soup makes it quick and easy to prepare as well as allowing you to choose your spice level from mild to wild. The heat of the salsa will intensify, so I won’’t use anything that is too hot or a salsa that is habanero based. This simple soup can also be expanded to a more hearty soup, with the addition of ingredients such as cooked pinto or black beans, chicken or turkey, or even whole kernel corn. Add these to the soup after it has been pureed. For a taste of green chile, chicken enchiladas in a soup bowl, just use green chile salsa and chicken.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chopped onion

  • 2 teaspoons chopped garlic

  • 2 to 3 teaspoons vegetable oil

  • 1½ cups tomato-based commercial salsa

  • 3 cups chicken broth

  • 2 corn tortillas, torn into pieces

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

  • 1/4 cup chopped, fresh cilantro

  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

  • Garnish: Sour cream

  • Chopped fresh cilantro

    • Instructions

    Heat the oil in a heavy stock or sauce pot, add the onions and saute until they are soft. Add the garlic and continue to saute for an additional minute.

    Stir in the salsa, broth, tortillas, cumin, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the tortillas are soft. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.

    Put the mixture into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Adjust the seasonings and stir in the cilantro.

    To serve, ladle the soup into individual bowls and garnish with a dollop of sour cream and chopped cilantro.

     

    Piri Piri Sauce

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    Cuvée Executive Chef Dean Brunner notes: “It consists of habaneros (and a few other seriously hot donations from local fans), plus jalapeños. We like the burn to have great spirit but also be well balanced.” He suggests marinating the shrimp in the sauce for at least an hour before grilling them.

    Ingredients

    • 1 red bell bepper, seeds and stems removed, coarsely chopped

    • 1 yellow bell pepper, seeds and stems removed, coarsely chopped

    • 4 jalapeno chiles, seeds and stems removed, coarsely chopped

    • 4 mirasol chiles, seeds and stems removed, coarsely chopped

    • 4 habanero chiles, seeds and stems removed, coarsely chopped

    • 2 rocotillo chiles, seeds and stems removed, coarsely chopped (or substitute serranos)

    • 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

    • 1 cup white wine vinegar

    • ¼ cup olive oil

    • Salt and pepper to taste

    Instructions

    Combine all ingredients except the oil in a blender or food processor. Pulse blend until somewhat smooth. Pour into a jar and mix in the oil and salt and pepper. Note that chiles vary with seasonal availability.

    Cuvee Piri-Piri Sorbet

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    This is the sweet heat dessert that perfectly finished the shrimp dish at Cuvée. Chef Dean says that you can use lemon, lime, or grapefruit, juice, or a combination. I’ll bet you could use orange juice if you wished.

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups citrus juice

    • 2 ¼ cups simple syrup (thickened sugar water)

    • 1/3 cup Piri-Piri Sauce

    Instructions

    Combine all and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

    Pork Steak in Lambrequin for Two

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    This recipe is from meat mistress Bojana Mirkovic, overall champion at the Leskovac Barbecue Festival. This was one of her winning meals. Lambrequin is lamb peritoneum, or stomach lining, used to wrap steak, pljeskavica, or liver before grilling it. It gives the meat an extraordinary flavor. Ask your butcher for it and hope that he doesn’t laugh at you!

    Ingredients

    • 4 pork steaks, 4 ounces each

    • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

    • 1 teaspoon salt

    • 1 clove garlic, crushed

    • 4½ ounces bacon

    • 4½ ounces your favorite cheese

    • 4½ ounces chopped mushrooms

    • 4 medium pieces lambrequin (there is no real substitute, but you could use aluminum foil)

    Instructions

    Pound each steak until thin. Add pepper, salt, and garlic to the pounded. Cut the bacon and cheese into narrow strips and place them on the meat. Sprinkle the mushroom over the meat. Fold up each piece of meat and wrap it in the lambrequin. Grill the meat over a hot flame for about 5 minutes per side. Serve on warm plates.

    Chimayo Chile Marinated Pork Loin

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    Here, as best I could reconstruct it, is the chile encrusted pork loin as served at De La Tierra. It is served with a “Barbecue Demi Glace” but they forgot to give me the recipe. So just make a gravy with the pan drippings and add some sherry and a little of your favorite barbecue sauce. Note that this recipe requires advance preparation.

    Ingredients

    • 2 tablespoons roasted garlic paste

    • ½ cup Chimayó red chile powder

    • 2 tablespoons cinnamon

    • Salt and pepper to taste

    • 1/4 cup vegetable oil

    • 1 pork roast, rib end of loin, 3 to 4 pounds

    Instructions

    In a bowl, combine the garlic paste, chile powder, cinnamon, salt and pepper and vegetable oil and combine to make a paste. Slather the past over the roast and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours. Roast the pork, uncovered, in a 350 degree F. oven for 30 minutes a pound or until the internal temperature reaches 185 degrees F. Slice the ribs apart and cut the meat away from the bones. Serve with the demi glace gravy and accompanied by the Sweet Potato Hash.