Cheap Bastid is always looking for recipes that promise to be tasty, easy and inexpensive. Recently I stumbled across a soup which made my mouth water from reading the recipe—and that was good enough to make me save the recipe, research it some more and come up with my own “Cheap Bastidized” version of Mexican Noodle soup or Sopita Fideo.
And even better, Mexican Noodle soup is quick. It can be made, start to finish, in less than an hour which is just fine for a mid-week, after work, stick-to-your ribs meal when you want to relax, get filled up with something good and have some comfort food that doesn’t take all day.
Sopita Fideo is literally soup with short pieces of vermicelli or spaghetti. Add some vegetables and a little meat and you’ve got a meal. Besides, the name “Sopita Fideo” for some reason appeals to my sense of the exotic even though it’s just the description of a simple soup for everyday cooking.
NOTE: Adding meat is totally optional. You can make this a totally vegetarian soup if you want.
I mean if your kids ask you what’s for dinner, you can say “Sopita Fideo”. They’ll say “Eeeewww!” and you can just nod your head wisely and knowingly as it fills the kitchen with some really nice aroma. Yeah, and then you can tell them “Mexican Noodle Soup” and they’ll think it’s some kind of cool hybrid from Campbell’s and Taco Bell.
And it’s tasty-good! You can add more water and get a really good soup going or a little less water and get what Mrs. CB calls “stewp”. Either way, this is worth taking about 20 minutes to prep and another 40 to let it bubble together and get flavorful and done.
Recipe: Mexican Noodle Soup (Sopita Fideo)
Summary: A soul warming and flavorful Mexican soup that’s ready in under an hour.
Ingredients
- 8 oz ground beef, ground pork or shredded chicken (or leave meat out and make it vegetarian)
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 cup yellow onion, chopped
- 1 fresh jalapeno
- 1 tsp minced garlic (or garlic powder)
- 7 ounces small dried pasta (such as alphabet or stars or “Fideo”)
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
- 4-6 cups water
- 1 medium potato, chopped in 1/2” cubes
- 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbsp chicken bouillon (You can substitute broth—just adjust the amount of water)
- Cumin
- Chili powder or ancho chili
- Pepper (black, chipotle or cayenne)
- Salt
Instructions
- Get out a large pot, cutting board, chef’s knife and sauté pan.
- Brown the ground beef or pork (if using cooked chicken, shred it). Set aside.
- Chop the onion, jalapeno, garlic (if using whole cloves), tomato and potato (your choice—peel it or not)
- Put the pot on the large burner of the stove turned to medium high. Put the oil in. Then add the onion and jalapeno and garlic. When onion is translucent, add the dried pasta and stir in until it starts to brown a bit.
- Add tomato sauce and meat (if you’re using meat). Stir well.
- Add water, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, bullion and cumin, chili powder/ancho and
pepper. Taste and add a pinch or 2 of salt. - Cover, set heat so that the soup simmers and let cook for about 30-40 minutes until the pasta, corn and potatoes are tender (although I like it with just a bit of “tooth”).
- Turn off heat, uncover, let rest 5 minutes and serve.
Preparation time: 15 minute(s)
Cooking time: 45 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 6
That’s pretty easy isn’t it. Think of all the ingredients that are easy and cheap that are in this soup. No wonder Mexican Noodle soup is so tasty and is a super easy “comfort food” meal to cook up. We like a hint of heat and we love the aroma that cumin gives to anything that we cook. But, always season to your taste.
I made some grilled cheese sandwiches to go along with the Sopita Fideo. What a great weeknight dinner! And it provided a couple of days of lunches as well.
The Cheap Bastid Test: This is pretty reasonably priced. Figure that the ½ lb of hamburger cost $1.25, the tomato sauce was $.33, the corn was $.79 and the Fideo was $.33. Add in tomatoes, onion and the potato and it’s another $.50 plus about $.25 in bouillon. So what does that add up to? How about $3.45. It’ll feed a family of 4 for dinner and that’s really, really cheap for something this good.
Walter, this looks like a good thing on a cold day.
Its about 10 F here.. maybe tomorrow I will try it..
yum
HUGGGG