Spring soup and bean and cheese quesadillas: Thomasina Miers’ Mexican-inspired seasonal recipes
I have always loved the evident (though not proven) link between how foodie a country is and its love of soups.In Mexico, where nose-to-tail eating is a given, broths maintain a steadying presence in any self-respecting cantina, and soups are commonplace on most menus.We don’t eat a crazy amount of meat at home, but having homemade stock in the freezer is an ingenious fast track to flavour and goodness.Here, whether your stock is chicken or vegetable, homemade or shop-bought, the joy is in the gentle spicing, a scattering of herbs, zingy tomatillos and some lovely spring leaves.There are so many different herbs in Mexico that are impossible to find here, so I’ve used bundles of more common soft herbs to try to capture the lovely breadth of flavour in this soup.
Tomatillos, in salsa form, give it a refreshing acidity to light up the greens.Prep 15 min Cook 45 min Serves 4-650g butter 2 large onions, peeled and finely sliced½ fennel bulb, finely chopped 50g fresh coriander250g floury potatoes, peeled and diced 2 tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp allspice Sea salt and black pepper 300g jar tomatillo salsa 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock, or water60g pumpkin seeds500g baby leaf spinach, or young nettles or Swiss chard, or a mix, washed and roughly chopped1 handful fresh tarragon or dill, chopped, plus extra to serve 250ml double creamJuice of 1 limeSoured cream, to serveMelt the butter in a large saucepan on a medium-high heat, then, once it’s foaming, add the onion and fennel, and saute over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, until softened.Finely chop the coriander stalks, add these to the pan with the potatoes and spices, season with a teaspoon of salt and lots of black pepper, then sweat for another five minutes.Add the salsa and stock, bring to a simmer and leave to cook gently for 20 minutes.Meanwhile, toast the pumpkin seeds in a small pan for about five minutes, shaking a little until the seeds colour and start to pop.
Grind two thirds of the pumpkin seeds in a spice grinder and roughly chop the rest.Add the spinach/nettles/chard to the soup, stir in most of the coriander leaves and the tarragon or dill (save the rest of the herbs to garnish), simmer for three to four minutes, until tender, then stir in the ground pumpkin seeds.Pour in the double cream, then blitz with a stick blender.Add the lime juice and taste, adjusting the seasoning with more salt and pepper as required.Serve in bowls topped with a swirl of soured cream, a scattering of the reserved herbs and the chopped pumpkin seeds.
If you make the soup the day ahead, it will lose some of its colour, but the flavour will improve beautifully.A delicious and comforting quesadilla to eat at any time, but incredibly good with a bowl of the above spring soup.Tortillas vary wildly in size and thickness; my preference is for smaller ones, which you can fold over to make half-moons, but larger ones will work, too – fold over in the same way and cut into triangles.Prep 15 min Cook 40 min Serves 4-6For the beans45g butter 1 white onion, peeled and finely chopped2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped1 tsp fresh thyme leaves 2 tsp chipotles en adobo (optional)Sea salt and black pepper600g cooked black beans ½ tsp fennel seeds, groundFor the tortillas 250g mozzarella, grated250g cheddar, grated100g feta, crumbledSmall tortillas (corn or flour)Melt the butter in a pan and, once it’s gently foaming, add the onions, garlic, thyme and chipotle, if using.Season generously, then sweat gently, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until soft.
Add the beans, ground fennel and 250ml water, and cook for another 10 minutes.Lift out a cup of the beans and roughly blitz them with a stick blender.Stir the blitzed beans back into the whole beans, then taste – adjust the seasoning with more fennel, chipotle or salt as required.Mix all three cheeses in a bowl.If you have any fresh herbs about the place – a handful of parsley, tarragon, coriander or dill, say – chop them and add those, too.
Spoon scoops of the beans on to one half of each tortilla, scatter over the cheese mix, then fold the tortillas into half moons.Dry-fry the quesadillas for a few minutes on each side in a large frying pan on a medium-high heat, until gooey, hot and toasted, and serve immediately.
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