In many Mexican marketplaces and town plazas, the aroma of garlic soup wafts from nearby restaurants, beckoning as you shop, promenade, or just wander and gawk. It’s an ancient soup, dating from the time the Moors introduced a brothy concoction to the Iberian Peninsula, which the locals thickened with pulverized almonds (Chicken and Almond Meatballs in White Gazpacho, page 115). In the New World, the soup was re-created to include tomatoes and dried chiles. That rendition came to be embraced by lovers of Latin fare from the coast of Spain to the zocalos of Mexican towns to the American cities of the Pacific coast. It is an ardently delicious, deep red, beautiful soup that brings with it a blessing of health to the diners, and is blessedly easy to make.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
First, make the meatballs and set them aside in the refrigerator.
Step 2
To prepare the chiles, stem them and shake out the seeds, leaving the pods more or less whole. In a small saucepan, combine the chile pods and 2 cups of the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cover and simmer until plumped up and soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool until the chiles can be handled. Lift out the pods and reserve the water. Slit open each chile, scrape the pulp off the skin, and discard the skin. Add the pulp to the reserved water and set aside.
Step 3
To make the soup, heat the 1/4 cup oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until beginning to turn golden, about 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a large pot. Working in batches to avoid crowding, toast the bread slices in the same sauté pan, turning and adding more oil as necessary to keep them from being dry toasted, until lightly golden on both sides, 1 to 2 minutes for each batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain. When all the bread is toasted, set the slices aside.
Step 4
Again working in batches to avoid crowding, brown the meatballs in the same pan over medium-high heat, adding oil as needed, until golden all around, about 5 minutes. Transfer to the pot with the garlic as you go. Add the tomato sauce, the remaining 5 cups water, the salt, and the reserved cooking water with the chile pulp to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Decrease the heat to maintain a brisk simmer, partially cover the pot, and cook until the garlic is soft and the meatballs are tender, about 20 minutes.
Step 5
To serve, ladle the soup into individual bowls. Garnish each bowl with 2 or 3 toasted bread slices and a dollop of the cream.
