The Art of Alice Waters

This weekend the girls and I made Alice Water's Chicken Tortilla soup for dinner one night. I wish it was possible to take spoonfuls out of pictures. If it was, I would so take one out of this:



From the cookbook, "The Art of Simple Food," this recipe is both simple and artful. It is a light array of spices, a touch of fire and a warmth brewed from within. I told Jess I wanted comfort food for dinner and comfort food this was. See those tortilla strips as garnish? I made those. Fried 'em right up in the pan. There's a first time for everything, isn't there now...

I had a bit of trouble finding an accurate recipe of this Sopa de Tortilla online, but the ingredients include chicken, broth, onion, green pepper, green chilies, garlic, tomatoes, etc. For presentation and taste, it calls for a variety of fun garnishes: there is queso fresco, shredded jicama, cubed avocado, cilantro (for those sans the cilantro aversion), lime and, of course, tortilla strips.

The ingredients for making simple dinners = good friends, good recipe, good conversation. It's an art that takes no schooling.