Many ingredients of the Mexican kitchen are charred or dry roasted to bring out the essential flavor. This can be done over a grill and open flame or in a dry heavy skillet or grill pan. Knowing this technique, one can ad lib and use this cooking style with selected ingredients to create your own masterpiece.

A great soup can come together by grilling corn on the cob and then slicing the kernels. Dice some tomatoes and grill or dry roast until just a bit charred. Add some cooked black beans, chicken broth, garlic and lime until just your desired spiciness. Garnish with cilantro sprigs and the piece de resistance... crunchy tortilla strings.

Soup: In a large saucepan, add all of the ingredients up to and including the cumin. Bring to a boil over high heat and then simmer for 4 minutes. Stir in the BroccoSprouts®. Serve in bowls topped with sour cream and tortilla strings.

Crunchy Tortilla Strings: These crunchy airy strips add not only great texture to salads, soups, and salsa-topped dishes, they also become the conversation piece.
4 6-inch flour tortillas
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cut the tortilla into very thin strips about 1/4-inch thick. Place the strips on a sheet pan. Toss the strips to separate and curl somewhat. Bake for 10-15 minutes, tossing after 6 minutes until golden and crunchy.
Serves 4.

This recipe was created by Rita Calvert, Annapolis School of Cooking
Photography: Dean Ray, Ray Studios, Baltimore, Maryland