You Can Still Soup in Summer
Who says soup’s not for summers? Rachel from over at Good Bite brings us a one-pot recipe that’s prefect for drowning the heat in.
The best summers in Texas are those spent indoors. For three months the heat blazes and iced tea becomes a daily necessity, along with light delicious fare. With summer staples like sweet yellow corn and squash readily available, thoughts of barbeques, picnics and bowls of caldo brimming with vegetables fill my head. Infinitely adaptable, simple and sublime, caldo vegetal is a Mexican vegetable soup that begins with a basic stock and results in a trifecta of spicy, tangy, cheesy harmony.
A veritable laundry list of vegetables are first sautéed in a great big pot with plenty of onions and garlic. Gently rubbing the herbs between my hands, the heady aroma of Mexican oregano infuses the squash, carrots, jalapeños and green chilies with a warm, earthy essence. Chicken stock fills the pot, mingling with smoky ground cumin, coriander and fresh cilantro. Sneaking in for a taste, the slow burn of the spicy broth and chilies serves up just the right amount of heat to slurp and savor the rich complexity of flavors. As the caldo gently bubbles on the stovetop, big rounds of corn bathe in the simmering broth. In shallow bowls, yellow squash and zucchini peak out from under the golden liquid as sprigs of cilantro and fresh limes lay alongside crunchy tortilla chips and sweet corn. Difficult as it may be to disturb this beautiful arrangement, a generous sprinkling of cheese goes on top followed by a less than delicate stir until the caldo is delightfully messy looking. Simple, delicious and completely casual, caldo vegetal is light summer fare at its best and a soup worthy of cranking up the air conditioning.
