SOUP SATURDAY IS ON!
Third Saturday of the month, it’s time for soup! This month our event is hosted by the one and only, Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories. I’ve been a follower for a long time, and if you read my blog, you might remember I’ve made quite a few recipes from her site. The Bread Queen! For this event, she chose Mexican Soups. My first thought was tortilla soup, since it’s something I’ve been meaning to make for a while. But before settling on that classic, I sat down with some of my cookbooks. Maybe I should say I sat down with my iPad to electronically browse through my cookbooks. Yes, I might have a slight cookbook obsession, but I do so while sparing trees. The moment I laid my eyes on Marcela Valladolid’s Manchego and Poblano Soup, I knew it had to be it. First, I love poblanos because their heat does not scream at you or threaten to strip the outer layer of your larynx. Second, Manchego cheese is a favorite of ours. We got hooked on this Spanish delicacy many years ago through our friends and next door neighbors back in Oklahoma. Ever since that time, we always seem to have a piece of Manchego in our fridge. Just because. If you have trouble finding it, a Monterey Jack, with its nice melting qualities will do.
MANCHEGO AND POBLANO SOUP
(adapted from Marcela Valladolid’s Fresh Mexico)
7 poblano chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 medium shallots, halved
1/4 cup water
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 + 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
1/2 cup grated Manchego cheese (or Monterey Jack cheese)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
diced Manchego cheese for serving, to taste
Tajin seasoning (optional)
Bring a medium-size heavy saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the poblanos and shallots and cook for 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain them and transfer to a blender. Add ¼ cup water. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes, whisking constantly, but not allowing it to brown. Reduce the heat to medium and whisk in the chile mixture. Cook, whisking, for a few minutes until slightly thickened. Whisk in the milk. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook, whisking every minute or so to prevent scorching, for about 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
Whisk in the grated Manchego cheese. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls, and top with the diced cheese, plus a sprinkle of Tajin seasoning, if using.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: I modified the recipe quite a bit from Marcela’s version. She used double the amount of poblanos. Fourteen. You read me right. I could not bring myself to make it so peppery. I also modified the cooking method. I am really pleased with the resulting soup, creamy, just the right amount of heat, and that final touch of adding small cubes of Manchego cheese floating on top is sublime! As you get a spoonful, that cheese melts and fills your mind with happy thoughts. Then you get all cozy and warm inside. There was a bit of texture in my soup, even though I used a powerful Vitamix to blend it. It did not bother me, but just for fun I passed leftovers through a chinois. It turned out quite spectacular that way, I would follow the extra step if serving it for company. There I go again, dreaming with soup shots. A recurring theme. Must do something about it.
Wendy, thanks for organizing the Soup Saturday Event, and Karen, thanks for hosting this month!
You can take a nice tour of Mexican Soups made by my virtual friends with a click on the link at the bottom of the post. Have fun!
ONE YEAR AGO: A Smashing Pair
TWO YEARS AGO: Spinach and Mushroom Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
THREE YEARS AGO: Crispy Chickpea and Caper Spaghetti
FOUR YEARS AGO: Spring has Sprung!
FIVE YEARS AGO: Chickpea and Fire Roasted Tomato Soup
SIX YEARS AGO: Double Asparagus Delight
SEVEN YEARS AGO: Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Cheese Torte
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Bewitching Kitchen 
I’m always ready to try a nice new soup flavour combo. I just wish I could find poblanos that weren’t dessicated limp things. I love manchego cheese especially paired with quince paste … i still remember those crostini and spicy salami apps I made when I was playing around with fresh quinces.
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The poblanos we have here are pretty spectacular – I bet this soup would be delicious with Hatch chiles when the time comes
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The last time I looked for them, I wanted to make chiles rellenos. I was very disappointed in what I found. Even the pricey Metro grocery chain didn’t have them.
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I would love a soup where each bite leaves you with happy thoughts. I love soup Saturdays and manchego is a favorite of mine too.
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Manchego is wonderful! I often enjoy a little bit right before going to bed, you know, just a little treat… for nice dreams!
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I think with an extra puree this soup would be perfect for soup shots when your guests arrive for Cinco de Mayo. YUM
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I’ve never hosted a Cinco de Mayo party… maybe I should! 😉
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I always char poblanos and then strip the skin off, leaving some black bits for seasoning. Diana Kennedy says don’t get rid of the seeds. It’s the membrane that contains the heat.
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the seeds themselves contain no heat at all, I don’t remove them for the heat, which doesn’t bother me in poblanos, I remove most of them for the texture, I don’t care for the bits of seeds processed in the blender. Roasting the poblanos would be a very nice way to up the flavor, that’s for sure!
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We love Manchego and usually have some in the fridge, just because, also! I have never used it for anything but munching but I can see that needs to change forthwith! Your soup sounds absolute amazing!!
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I think if you love Manchego you will enjoy this soup very much – make sure to get those cubes floating… they make it shine!
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Mmmm! Manchego! I love the sounds of this. Can’t wait to try it. P~
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I hope you do! 😉
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This sounds amazing! Poblanos are plentiful here, and now I need to add Manchego to my cheese drawer in the fridge. Made me smile that you have a chinois. Me too. =)
P.S. Thanks for the sweet words.
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we are safe! We both have a chinois, so we won’t need to get one… maybe that could be our safe word? CHINOIS, they scream! CHINOIS! 😉
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I just LOVE the taste of poblanos! I have some wee poblano seedlings that sprouted last week, I’m hoping for a good crop this year, and then I can make this soup truly home-made! But our local grocery carries them year-round, thank goodness. 🙂
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wow, home grown poblanos! Now that would be something…. our store carries them pretty much year-round too. I need to make chile rellenos, it is one of Phil’s favorites. I made once, but my photos turned out sooooo bad, I could not blog about it.
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I’ve certainly had those types of photos! I love chile rellenos too.
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How beautiful this soup is! I love manchego- this is a great soup for summer when all those peppers are at the farmers market!
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exactly even for summer this soup could be great… nothing like a little bit of poblano-induced sweat to refresh us inside 😉
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So much flavour! I like anything with cheese melted into it and the poblanos sound so good, I’ve only tried them once, but I can easily imagine the flavour they give the soup 🙂
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I really like poblanos – first, the color is so intense, but of course the flavor is perfect – subtle but there.
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I found them once here, you really have to search for them 😦
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Lovely recipe. It is blowing a gale here today and this would be excellent comfort against the howling winds.
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howling winds sound perfect for this soup – hope you have better weather now… there’s something about strong winds that scare me, the noise, the horror movie setting. But, living in tornado alley for more than 20 years got me more used to it.
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So sweet that you remember when you first tasted Manchego! We, too, always have a chunk of it in the fridge, but I have never used it for anything other than munching as a snack! What a great idea, to put it into a delicious soup!
You might also like to post a recipe for Brazilian Caldo Verde on one of these Soup blogposts! Remember when we came back from Brazil bursting with excitement about that delicious cold soup?
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did you know I ‘ve never made caldo verde? It is unfortunately one of the things I was almost forced to eat growing up and I got turned off by it…. must re-visit!
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The green color on the soup looks so beautiful.
poblanos are a favorite. Will try soon.
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great! I know if you try you will be hooked on this soup!
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I am in love with this soup, beautiful color of the chilies.
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I should have taken a photo of the one after passing through the chinois, it looked perfectly smooth, very silky. Oh, well – maybe next time. I hope you try it, chinois or not, doesn’t matter. It is awesome!
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Poblanos and manchego? What’s not to love (ps, I have a recipe collection obsession too! pretty harmless in the big picture of things tho, right? 😉 x.
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I think I need to add a chinois to my wish list, just so I make this soup and maybe a couple of others and do Soup Shots at one of our Tapas Nights. I loved the theme this month.
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Manchego is one of my favorite, so I am sure I would absolutely love this soup!
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